Khabib Nurmagomedov to Tony Ferguson: 'Hope this lesson will teach you watch your mouth'

Khabib Nurmagomedov has provided his instant reaction to Tony Ferguson’s stunning withdrawal from Saturday’s UFC 223 to main event. And to no surprise, he’s not happy.

News broke today that Ferguson (23-3 MMA, 13-1 UFC) suffered a knee injury and would be replaced by featherweight champ Max Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) in a lightweight title fight. It’s the fourth time the matchup with Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) has fallen apart, and “The Eagle” is clearly as disappointed as anyone.

Nurmagomedov released a statement on the situation on social media. It made no mention of Holloway, and was entirely directed at “El Cucuy” (via Instagram):

Tony heal up man. Just want to advise you, don’t talk too much anymore. Lot of thoughts in my head right now, but I don’t want to become like you. Hope, this lesson will teach you watch your mouth. ?? ?? ???? ???? ???????? ? ?????? ???? ??????? ????: ?????? ?? ??????, ? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????, ?? ???? ??????? ?? ????, ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ??????. #ready #ufc223 #Alhamdulillah #????????????????????????

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Apr 1, 2018 at 4:25pm PDT

Tony heal up man. Just want to advise you, don’t talk too much anymore. Lot of thoughts in my head right now, but I don’t want to become like you. Hope, this lesson will teach you watch your mouth.

UFC 223 takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Nurmagomedov wasn’t the only person to take shots at Ferguson. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, put out a string of tweets directed at the interim titleholder (via Twitter):

For more on UFC 223, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.