Khabib Nurmagomedov’s first reaction when he heard that Tony Ferguson was out of their UFC 223 title fight, is that it must be a joke, right? After all, the news did come on April 1st. However, it wasn’t a joke.
Ferguson was indeed injured and could not fight Saturday in Brooklyn, and Nurmagomedov told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he asked the UFC one thing: Where is Conor McGregor?
“Where is this Burger King?” Nurmagomedov said. “Take this Burger King here.”
McGregor is still currently the UFC lightweight champion and has been since beating Eddie Alvarez for the belt in November 2016. But “The Notorious” has yet to defend that belt and the UFC was planning to strip McGregor of the title as Ferguson/Nurmagomedov was being billed for the real lightweight champiionchip.
With Ferguson out, Nurmagomedov figured McGregor should step in and put his gold on the line. Especially since a few days earlier McGregor tweeted the phrase “Stay ready.”
“Now, where is this guy?” Nurmagomedov said. “Six days to make weight. He can make weight. Bring this guy.”
Nurmagomedov (25-0) joked that now that McGregor is getting big-time sponsorships like Burger King, the UFC does not want to put him in any precarious situations.
“I think they want him to look nice,” Nurmagomedov said. “He famous. If I change his face … they won’t take somebody who has crazy face.”
McGregor tweeted a vulgar response to Ferguson’s withdrawal Monday. But hasn’t commented on why he is not fighting Nurmagomedov this coming weekend.
“I don’t understand,” Nurmagomedov said. “When I am ready, when I am healthy, nobody talk. … Now I’m here. Where are you guys? Only Max Holloway shows up.”
With a win at UFC 223, he said he’ll leave no more doubts about who is the best 155-pounder in the world.
“In jungle, only one king,” Nurmagomedov said. “You cannot be like, this guy king, this guy interim king. It’s all crazy stuff. I’m gonna take the belt, I’m gonna show my numbers. Ten years undisputed and undefeated champion and everything becomes calm, everybody understand.”