Khabib Nurmagomedov is putting considerable money where his considerable mouth is, but Tony Ferguson isn't backing away from what he says he needs for their fight to happen.
Nurmagomedov, who is known across the MMA world for his brash trash talk, told RT Sport (h/t MMAWeekly) he signed up for a fight with Ferguson at UFC 209 on March 4, perhaps for an interim lightweight title, but that Ferguson declined the invitation.
Nurmagomedov took it to another level Monday when he offered Ferguson an additional $200,000 to take the fight, apparently dipping into his own (or someone's) pocket to make a bout more intriguing.
Both men appeared later Monday on The MMA Hour (warning: NSFW language) with host Ariel Helwani to, in essence, publicly negotiate the potential terms of engagement.
Up first was Ferguson, who insisted he receive more favorable terms from the UFC before adding his signature to the agreement.
"I don't like this guy," Ferguson told Helwani. "My style of fighting is so much better than his. ... We're going to fight, that's what it is. But things have to be right. It has to be on good terms, you know?"
But there's more to the story. California native Ferguson added his own interesting nugget, saying he was initially offered a fight with Nurmagomedov in January in Anaheim, California, but Nurmagomedov "didn't want to sign on the dotted line, because he had too many boo-boos, or he didn't want to do it in my hometown."
Although he declined to discuss specific numbers, Ferguson added that he now believes he has "outperformed [his] contract," indicating he expected special terms for this bout—one he and plenty of others deem a special, main event-level fight.
Ferguson said he wasn't interested in accepting Nurmagomedov's offer of extra money, suggesting the offer itself was evidence that the UFC wasn't properly stepping up to make the bout happen.
"Let's get some chatter going, let's get the UFC involved in this," Ferguson said. "If you've got Khabib willing to sacrifice his life and then give me $200,000 of his own money, something's wrong with that s--t. I'm not going to take this guy's money. ... If Khabib can afford to put up $200K of his money? So can the UFC."
Nurmagomedov didn't back down, either. Appearing on The MMA Hour directly after Ferguson, he ignored Ferguson's entreaties to the UFC, choosing to again question Ferguson's manhood for failing to sign the agreement for March. He also appeared to defend his higher pay grade compared with Ferguson's.
"He's an interesting guy, talking about 'Let's go, let's do this, blah blah blah,' but UFC ask him 'Let's go, why not?'" Nurmagomedov said in his fragmented English. "I said, 'Let's go, I am ready, March 4.' But UFC talk about he won't make money like me, but with me is all of Russia. ... Who with him? Who with him? California?"
The UFC's two highest-ranked lightweights behind champ Conor McGregor have been circling each other for months. It intensified in November after McGregor put himself on extended family leave.
But Nurmagomedov, the undefeated sensation from Russia's Dagestan republic, keeps charging Ferguson with failure to sign on for a match that would surely determine McGregor's first 155-pound title challenger when the champ returns.
On that fight, at least, the two contenders seem to agree.
"The fight is us or Conor, man, and I know both of us are going to smash that fool," Ferguson said. "So, the real fight is this fight, and we both know it."
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