Tony Ferguson explains the real reason behind his infamous final-ever face-off against Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson had one of the longest running feuds in UFC history after amazingly being booked to fight each other five times.

A fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will go down as one of the biggest what-if stories in MMA history.

It took freak injuries, botched weight cuts and a global pandemic to keep fans from seeing what would have been one of the best matchups in MMA at the time.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Tony Ferguson explains the real reason behind the UFC 249 showdown against Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC 223 in 2018 was the closest the two came to fighting, but during media day the Wednesday before their fight, 'El Cucuy' tripped on a camera wire and subsequently tore his knee ligaments.

Two years later, Ferguson reigned as interim lightweight champion during 'The Eagle's absence. The two were then booked in a title unification bout at UFC 249, where things heated up again between the two lightweights.

To this day, fans still wonder what was said between the two as they faced off for what was the last time as they continued to exchange words with each other.

As the two faced off, 'El Cucuy' bizarrely put down his interim belt and Nurmagomedov kicked him away, and Ferguson has now revealed the real reason why he put down his belt.

“When we did the faceoff, I put my belt on the ground and he kicked it,” Ferguson began explaining on the Jaxxon Podcast.

“But that wasn't the intention (to irritate Khabib), but he doesn't know, I measured him with my belt, and every time I put my belt down, look, that's how close I was to pluck him by his ankle .

“And when I picked up my belt, I went like this (bowed), and I was like, thank you for giving me your cues,” Ferguson revealed.

Tony Ferguson reveals his favorite fighters of all time

Of course, the fight between them at UFC 249 never happened after the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ferguson subsequently lost his interim title to Justin Gaethje and his career has gone downhill since then, and much to the dismay of the fanbase, he has yet to announce his retirement.

Despite this, the 40-year-old will undoubtedly enter the UFC Hall of Fame when his career is over and will go down in history as many fans' favorite fighter of all time.

With that, 'El Cucuy' has revealed who his favorite fighters of all time are, after taking motivation from them all.

“Rampage (Jackson), for sure. GSP (Georges St-Pierre) was on my mark because I was 10-2 before I went to the UFC and he was the only one at 170 pounds doing well so I always compared myself to this guy because I had to go and beat this man to win the championship belt.

“As for the other fighter I look up to, (Kazushi) Sakuraba, because he was one of the Gracie killers and he was a wrestler that could do something and nothing against Gracies or anyone else, he just went out and smoked a Cigarettes and a shot and then do his thing,” said Ferguson.

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