Tony Ferguson Calls Out Nate Diaz For Title Fight

Tony Ferguson wants to throw down with Nate Diaz for a UFC title.

‘El Cucuy‘ appeared on yesterday’s (Wed. March 29, 2017) episode of UFC Tonight where he continued to send his message to UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor: ‘Vacate the belt.’ With McGregor seeming to be preoccupied by a potential boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, Ferguson would like to step into the Octagon with Nate Diaz to determine a new 155-pound champ (quotes via FOX Sports):

“Vacate the belt right now, drop it, leave it where it’s at and we’ll fight for the title belt International Fight Week. I know the only person I would like to go toe-to-toe with that probably needs some [talking to] is Nate Diaz,” Ferguson said.

“I’d love to go toe-to-toe with him. For anybody else that’s out there, they don’t really deserve a shot at fighting with me. Myself, the fans, everybody else would love to see that fight. Battle of California. Let’s do this.”

Ferguson was set to challenge No. 1-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov for the interim lightweight title in the co-main event of UFC 209, but the Russian was hospitalized due to weight cutting complications and forced off the card the day before the bout.

Despite the fact that the bout between he and Nurmagomedov has been scrapped on several different occasions now, ‘El Cucuy’ is still interested in sharing the Octagon with the undefeated lightweight:

“I think I would love to have the fight,” Ferguson said. “Putting up with the whole entire camp again and going through all the battles again, just puts a salty taste in my mouth. It’s like going out and swimming in the ocean. You know it’s good for you but it puts that taste in your mouth. It’s like the Khabib fight where I can correlate that because it’s a fight that I want. I want this fight, the fans want this fight. It’s something where I wouldn’t mind training again for it.

“It would have to be some assurance for it because I love getting my hands wrapped. I love having that feeling of being able to sling on that leather, that new smell that you get. You walk outside into the cage and into the arena where you see thousands of fans going crazy or they’re booing, doesn’t matter whatever it is. But the fact is putting on that leather and going in there and slinging it, especially against Khabib, I would love to.”