Charges of 'you're fat,' nonsense as Nurmagomedov, Ferguson go at it during UFC 209 media call

We knew Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov weren’t close friends before the UFC booked them a third time, but when they got on a conference call to promote UFC 209, hardly anyone else got in a word edgewise.

After Nurmagomedov (24-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) promised to break Ferguson (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC), it was off to the races as the two argued back and forth, twice prompting UFC public relations to cut them off.

Nurmagomedov claimed Ferguson had never faced a wrestler of his caliber, which prompted Ferguson to opine that Nurmagomedov had lost a 2012 bout against Gleison Tibau at UFC 148.

“You’re first fight, you lost to him – I beat him in the first round,” Ferguson said. “You ain’t breaking (expletive). You keep talking.”

Nurmagomedov accepted the invitation, of course. He pointed out Ferguson’s 2012 loss to Michael Johnson, whom he stopped at UFC 205.

“You said Michael Johnson was going to kill me,” Nurmagomedov said. “What happened? I finished him. I could have finished him in the first round. I could have finished him in the second round.

“You have seven knockdowns.”

“If you try to take me down, you’re going to find out how sharp my elbows are,” Ferguson replied.

So ended the first salvo, with the usual proclamation of “we’ll see who’s right.” There’s one week left until they face off in UFC 209’s co-headliner on March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it appears it can’t come soon enough for the fighters.

After two previous bookings were canceled, Ferguson pivoted to concern whether Nurmagomedov would make weight and mocked the Dagestan native. Nurmagomedov wondered why he would suddenly bring that up.

“You’re fat, dude,” Ferguson said. “You’ll never make weight, and you’re conditioning sucks.”

That seemed to tickle Nurmagomedov, who chuckled and said “I’ll show you my spirit on Saturday.”

“I’m going to break your spirit,” Ferguson replied.

The pair subsequently argued over who was responsible for the canceled fights and who was running from whom. Of course, Nurmagomedov accused Ferguson of doing the running.

“There’s nobody running from this fight,” Ferguson said. “Dude, you’re a punk. You’re a (expletive) bully, just like everybody else at AKA. Nobody’s running but Conor (McGregor).”

On that, they would probably agree, although Nurmagomedov didn’t say it. Both of them are waiting for the UFC lightweight champ’s return so they can claim the belt. McGregor jumped the line by knocking out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, prompting Nurmagomedov to chastise UFC President Dana White in the middle of his fight with Johnson over the turn of events.

But the rest, it was a bunch of bickering, a lot of it unintelligible. Nurmagomedov claimed Ferguson held out for more money so he could make a big payday before cashing out. Ferguson said Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, was feeding him all his good lines.

Even Darrell Horcher got dragged into the thing, with Ferguson mistakenly calling Nurmagomedov’s former opponent Nate Horcher.

“I want to break your face – I want to break your heart,” Nurmagomedov said.

“Your hat is covering your ears – you’re not listening to me,” Ferguson said. “(Expletive) you, Khabib. You didn’t do nothing. I’m the matador. You’ve got 1.9 million people that are going to be sad as (expletive) when I finish your ass.”

To hear the whole exchange – and you’re going to need to set aside a little time – check out the audio above.

And for more on UFC 209, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.