Khabib Nurmagomedov’s decision to pull out of UFC 249 didn’t sit well with his challenger Tony Ferguson. According to Ferguson, Nurmagomedov’s refusal to fight him should cost him his lightweight champion title.
Nurmagomedov was set to defend his title against Ferguson on April 18th. However, the Dagestan fighter decided to skip the event due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, announcing the news on social media on Wednesday and saying he is in quarantine.
Ferguson, on the other hand, thinks his opponent is “scared and running” and should lose his belt.
“He should be stripped of his title,” said Ferguson in a recent interview with SportsCenter.
“He obviously knew what he could do to help save this card,” he added. “He didn’t want to take any of those chances. Everybody is taking risks trying to do it. He bailed out, man. It’s pretty hard to explain, but he bailed out, man.”
Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov never met before although their fights have been scheduled on five different occasions. Each time, the fight was canceled as one of the fighters was injured or ill.
Ferguson has 25-3 record, having lost his last fight back in 2012. He held Interim UFC Lightweight Championship title between October 2017 and April 2018.
Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, has 28-0 record. He won the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship in 2018 against Al Iaquinta and defended it successfully twice.
