Dana White Confirms Tony Ferguson Is Next For Khabib, McGregor Rematch Also Makes Sense

Dana White has confirmed Tony Ferguson will be next for Khabib Nurmagomedov, but if he turns it down, a Conor McGregor rematch also makes sense.

Nurmagomedov successfully defended his title for a second time when he submitted Dustin Poirier in the third round of their UFC 242 headliner earlier today. The question then turned to who should face “The Eagle” next.

Ferguson is the obvious choice as he’s on a 12-fight win streak and never lost his interim title in the Octagon. However, there was also a chance McGregor could skip the line because of how big a star he is.

For now, “El Cucuy” seems to be next in line according to the UFC head honcho:

“Yeah, he’s next,” White confirmed at the post-fight press conference. “Tony Ferguson is next in line for the fight, if he accepts the fight. We’ll see how this thing plays out, when Khabib will fight again and if Tony wants to fight.”

Ferguson could have fought Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 if he accepted an interim title fight with Max Holloway and went on to defeat him. However, he had personal issues at the time and was advised against taking that fight.

If something were to happen where Ferguson doesn’t accept a Nurmagomedov fight again, then a McGregor rematch makes sense according to White:

“Tony Ferguson gets the next shot,” he added. “If for whatever reason, Tony Ferguson can’t take the fight [against Nurmagomedov] or doesn’t want the fight at that time, then we would figure out what was next.

“But yeah, Conor would make a lot of sense. Conor McGregor wants that fight really badly and I’m sure the fans would want to see it. So we’ll see how this whole thing plays out.”

Who do you want to see Nurmagomedov face next?