Tony Ferguson answers questions from the media at a press conference in 2018.
Daniel Cormier suggests Tony Ferguson fight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 249
With the uncertainty of UFC’s 249 scheduled main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, the options are rolling in as to who could step in and fight. Nurmagomedov took to Instagram on Monday to announce that he was stuck in lockdown in Russia and would be unable to travel for UFC 249 which is scheduled to take place on April 18, with a location still being sought out.
Nurmagomedov’s teammate and ESPN analyst Daniel Cormier was on “DC & Helwani” with Ariel Helwani on Monday and shared an interesting take on who Tony Ferguson should face if Nurmagomedov can’t find a resolution. Before dropping the big-money opponent, Cormier pointed out who Ferguson shouldn’t fight, focusing on fighters who could benefit from a short-notice offering.
"If you're Tony Ferguson, you fight. Let me tell you who you don't fight…"
DC lays out names to ask for, as well as names to avoid, if Ferguson does not face Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 249. (via @dc_mma, @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/Pksb0zbRKp
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 30, 2020
“If you’re Tony Ferguson, you fight. First off, you do fight but there are a couple guys you don’t fight. You don’t fight a Gilbert Burns, you don’t fight a guy that fought in Brazil, this thing could work out for Tony because he has been preparing. All these dudes throwing their name in the hat, they haven’t been able to train because they had no fights on the book.
“So this thing can work out for him [Ferguson] in a way, I say give me Jorge Masvidal, the biggest name out there said he would fight, I’d say give me Jorge. He can’t possibly be prepared to go and fight a guy like Tony Ferguson, but I think you have to be very careful as Tony with who you choose as an opponent. Right now he’s in the driver seat, he’s in the driver seat in the sense that he can go ‘Okay I’ll fight this guy, I’ll fight this guy.'”
Jorge Masvidal threw his name in the hat to fight at UFC 249 and then engaged in some back-and-forth with current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and “Gamebred” said he’s already accepted a fight against the champion twice.
