UFC News: Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals why he doesn't like Tony Ferguson personally

R. Nath
At long last!
At long last!

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson is a done deal. On April 18th, 2020, the two men will attempt to go head-to-head for the fifth time, as their last four bouts have been canceled for various reasons.

Khabib's last fight was against Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 and it was clear beforehand and after the fight that the two men had a high level of respect for each other, both personally and as fighters.

Nurmagomedov's respect was to the level that he even raised funds to donate to Poirier's charity. As expected, his next fight would be Tony Ferguson and from their past interactions, the two men don't seem to be as respectful for each other.

However, it's somewhere in between. There's no animosity between the two men and the Russian and his father have openly stated that this will be the biggest challenge of Nurmagomedov's career to date.

When speaking to RT Sport, the Russian Champion said that Ferguson is a great fighter but he doesn't like him personally since he doesn't know what's inside his head. He said,

"I don't have nothing personal with him, you know?"
"Tony is a great fighter. Honestly, I don't like him personally. I don't understand his mind, what is inside his head but I don't need this. I don't need this. I'm going to focus on the fight. When the cage closes I'm going to do my job like always."

It's a bit of a funny one since Tony Ferguson is well-known to be the most unorthodox fighter on the UFC roster, both in terms of his fighting style and his personality. It's this unorthodox style that has made El Cucuy one of the most exciting fighters on the planet and also what made him go undefeated for the last 7 years.

Nurmagomedov vs Ferguson is bar none, the most highly-anticipated fight in the UFC today. Tune in to our coverage of the event on April 18th, 2020!

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Edited by A. Ayush Chatterjee