Tony Ferguson isn’t happy about Dustin Poirier being handed an interim title fight against Max Holloway at UFC 236, with Dustin Poirier getting the opportunity instead, and lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov says he only has himself to blame.
“I want to remind you guys, that before I become champion, I was close to the title fight 3 times and all 3 times I missed my opportunity,” Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram. “First was in July 2016 when I was offered to fight in Ramadan month and I turned it down, second was UFC 205 NYC when I was offered a title fight, bout agreement signed, but my title was given away, you know the story. Third time was UFC 209 where I was hospitalized and almost died. But after every single fail I were said: you missed your chance, earn your shot with one more victory.
“Tony you had your chance and you missed it, and that’s your fault only. You know that I’m disqualified and can’t fight, but it’s not fair to strip me off the title, I fought 3 times in 9 months. I won and defended my belt. As a fighter you deserve a title fight, you are great fighter and opponent, but now you have to fight or wait for my DQ to be over and fight(but UFC doesn’t want it). I don’t understand your offenses, if you fell down, you got to get up, not complain. #ufc #mma #ufclightweight.”
For the record, Dana White has stated that Ferguson was the first person the UFC contacted about fighting Holloway, bu he apparently turned them down.
