All signs are starting to point to a future showdown between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and interim titleholder Tony Ferguson, but “El Cucuy” isn’t leaving anything to chance. He has ramped up his trash talk in an attempt to ensure that McGregor can’t walk away from the fight.
Although McGregor is the first UFC fighter to have held belts simultaneously in two divisions, he has never defended one. He unified his interim featherweight title by defeating then-featherweight-champion Jose Aldo at UFC 194, but he never put the featherweight title on the line before capturing the lightweight title. After defeating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight strap, McGregor was forced to relinquish the featherweight title.
It has been nearly a year since he defeated Alvarez, but his only fight has been his boxing spectacle with Floyd Mayweather.
He is, however, expected to return to the Octagon for his next fight. Ferguson became the interim champ by defeating Kevin Lee at UFC 216, and he is doing everything in his power to make sure that he is the man that McGregor will be fighting next.
“That paper champion is all paper man. He talked his way to the title. He’s talked his way into a whole lot,” Ferguson told TMZ Sports recently.
“My high IQ and my fight IQ are way too much for this guy. I’m way too much for him. I’ve saved a lot of my A+ material for him.”
Ferguson went on to say that he believes that McGregor is running scared from him; that the Irishman watched him defeat Lee and now has cold feet.
“Not only did he watch the fight, he was sitting there on his yacht, drinking a beer, saying holy (expletive), I’ve got the bogeyman on my (expletive) tail. The Grim Reaper is coming for my ass! That’s what he’s saying. I have his number.”
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