McGregor Hints At Fight With Ferguson
After months of speculation, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has finally hinted at who his next opponent is going to be. It looks like McGregor will fight the interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson.
McGregor (21-3) tweeted earlier today a picture casting himself as the fictional Tony Montana from “Scarface”-from the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto”-by simply saying “Tony.”
Tony pic.twitter.com/IhPaemJP30
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) October 13, 2017
This most likely is directed at Tony Ferguson (24-3) who less than a week ago defeated Kevin Lee (16-3) via third-round submission with a triangle choke to claim the interim lightweight title.
Earlier this month, McGregor spoke at a press conference but wasn’t clear who his next fight would be against. He touched on a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz (19-11), fighting the winner of Ferguson/Lee or even a return to the boxing ring.
At the UFC 216 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White was very direct with who McGregor would fight next.
“The Ferguson fight is the fight that makes sense,” White said.
McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy had said earlier this week that the third fight with Diaz is what he wanted to see and believes the fans want to see it too. He said if McGregor fought Ferguson, it would be “lights out fairly quickly.”
But coach John Kavanagh tweeted this after the fighter’s tweet, apparently agreeing with the champion’s decision.
Here we go… https://t.co/GmQNImYuwk
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) October 13, 2017
Ferguson told MMAjunkie Radio he’s ready to unify the belt by the end of the year.
“What (McGregor) needs to do is defend or vacate,” he said. “That dude’s got like less than a month. I mean, compared to what UFC rule state, he’s got a year to start defending his belt. I’m more than ready for December. He said he wants to fight in 2017. I think the fans deserve it. I think I deserve it.”
UFC 219 takes place December 30, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There has not been a headliner announced for the card yet, but there have been rumors that Cris “Cyborg” Santos would defend her featherweight title against former bantamweight champion, Holly Holm.
