Tony Ferguson is currently slated to face Salt Papi on the Misfits Boxing 22 card scheduled for Aug. 30. Ahead of the bout, Ferguson reflected on his rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov during their peak days in the UFC.Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were booked to fight each other multiple times, but their bouts were repeatedly canceled. This led to an intensification of the feud between the two fighters over time.In a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, 'El Cucuy' shared his thoughts on his rivalry with 'The Eagle', saying:"We hated each other for a long time, and [Nurmagomedov's] dad did him a favor by keeping him away from me. As any smart parent would do, they would f**king keep them away from danger. They felt the danger when it came to these f**king bloody fights... It was a lot of sh*t, and he knew I wasn't backing down."He added:"I saw it coming. That dude will never fight me. Neither him nor Conor [McGregor] would step in a ring with me or in a f**king cage with me. That is the fear that I instilled in both of those gentlemen that night that I fought [Anthony] Pettis."Check out Tony Ferguson's comments below:Nurmagomedov retired from MMA after his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. Meanwhile, Ferguson remains an active fighter. However, he has left the UFC and is currently pursuing other fighting opportunities.Tony Ferguson fires back at critics ahead of Salt Papi fightTony Ferguson left the UFC with the record for the most consecutive defeats in its history, having lost eight straight fights. Following these events, he faced considerable criticism from fans. After announcing his boxing debut against Salt Papi on the Misfits Boxing 22 card, Ferguson received a similar reaction.In the aforementioned interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, 'El Cucuy' addressed his critics, saying:"Ninety percent of the f**king comments out there are saying that I'm washed up, I'm old, and I should f**king retire and all this other bulls**t. And they're saying that because they can't f**king do this s**t that I'm doing. It's crazy. The other 20% is saying that 'Salt Papi' is going to knock me out. So 100% of you b**ches are out there hating on me. You know what? That's more fuel for my fire."Check out Tony Ferguson's comments below: