“Tony Ferguson is next in line” – Abdulmanap yearned for son Khabib Nurmagomedov to fight Tony Ferguson before his demise
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Tony Ferguson(L), Khabib Nurmagomedov(R)
Khabib Nurmagomedov became the undisputed lightweight champion of the UFC after he defeated Al laquinta on April 7th, 2018 at UFC 223 and beat the likes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje finally vacating the belt at his retirement on May, 2021.
He said that he didn’t want to continue on with combat sports without his father Abdulmanap by his side who had passed away three months before his last fight in the UFC.
Recently, new footage was posted on Instagram by ‘CombaTalk‘ showing the Russian asking his father who he wanted his son to fight next to which Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov replied, “To be honest, I want you to destroy Conor already.”
It could be seen that there was no love for McGregor at all in the Nurmagomedov camp and Khabib replied saying that he would take him out but he asked his father who he thought was next after Conor to which his dad replied, “Well, Tony Ferguson is definitely next in line after Conor.”
Before ‘The Eagle’ became champion, Conor McGregor was the lightweight champ and Tony Ferguson was the interim titleholder. But, due to inactivity and injury, both were stripped of their belts and the position was left vacant and later filled by Nurmagomedov when he beat Al Iaquinta.
Ferguson had torn his fibular collateral ligament while performing his media obligations ahead of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov back before he became champion and due to it becoming serious enough that he needed to undergo surgery, he was stripped of his title and the Ferguson vs Nurmagomedov fight never materialized leaving many fans heartbroken.
Abdulmanap asked his son Khabib Nurmagomedov to take on Georges St-Pierre at 170 lbs
In the footage put up by ‘CombaTalk’, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov had also asked his son to fight Georges St-Pierre at 170 lbs.
Khabib Nurmagomedov asked his father and mentor Abdulmanap who he wanted to see his son fight since Tony Ferguson was injured to which he replied, “If Tony is not able to fight, then I would choose St-Pierre.”
His father went on to say, “Yes, 170 lbs. You must fight St-Pierre in 170 lbs. I can’t see any problem. Why should he come down to 155? You should go up to 170.”
Khabib laughed it off sarcastically saying that his father doesn’t care for his safety. However, the video did look heartwarming as it showed a father who had high hopes and goals for his son. Abdulmanap even said that if St-Pierre didn’t fight him, he would need to take on then 170 lbs champion Tyron Woodley.
However, as MMA fans, we could never see any of these fights materialize due to Abdulmanap passing away in 2020 who was most certainly the backbone behind Khabib Nurmagomedov’s entire combat sports career.
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Nimish Ganapathy
(135 Articles Published)