Tony Ferguson thinks UFC should strip Khabib Nurmagomedov off his belt

After weeks of a debacle surrounding the pandemic, it seems like the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson has been canceled for a fifth consecutive time.

In a statement released on social media on Wednesday night, the Russian made it clear that he will not be flying out of Russia respecting the worldwide quarantine that is being put in place to flatten the curve of Coronavirus outbreak.

But his rival Ferguson is not buying a word of that and believes Khabib is running away from the fight, according to what he said in an interview with ESPN's Ariel Helwani shortly afterwards.

Tony Ferguson: He's scared, he's running

Khabib wrote on Instagram that as much as he is upset about the cancellation of the fight, he cannot be the only one flying around demonstrating his "free will". When most other public figures are urging everyone to stay indoors, he refuses to do otherwise. "Take care of yourself and put yourself in my shoes," he said.

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Staying home in quarantine and reading the reaction of people to the situation around my fight, it turns out that the whole world should be in quarantine, governments of all countries, famous people around the world urge people to follow all safety requirements in order to limit the spread of the disease, to save people, and Khabib is the only one relieved of all obligations and must demonstrate free will and train flying around the world, for the sake of fight? - I understand everything and I’m definitely upset more than you to cancel the fight, probably like all others, I had many plans after the fight, but I can’t control it all. The greatest countries and the largest companies of our time are shocked by what is happening, every day the situation changes unpredictably. But Khabib still has to fight, is that what you saying? - Take care of yourself and put yourself in my shoes. - 📍 Сижу дома на карантине и читаю реакцию людей на ситуацию вокруг моего боя, получается весь мир должен сидеть на карантине, правительства всех стран и известные люди всего мира призывают людей соблюдать требования безопасности, чтоб ограничить распространение болезни ради спасения людей, а Хабиб, освобождён от всех обязательств и должен демонстрировать свободу воли и тренироваться летая по всему миру рискуя своей жизнью ради боя ? - Я все понимаю и точно не меньше вас расстроен отменой боя, наверно у меня , как и у всех других, было много планов после боя, но я не в силах контролировать все это. Сверх державы и крупнейшие компании нашего времени в шоке от того, что происходит, каждый день ситуация меняется непредсказуемо. Но Хабиб все равно должен драться, так получается? - Берегите себя и поставьте себя на мое место.

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Apr 1, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

But Khabib's decision is being interpreted as an act of cowardice by Ferguson, who feels like 'The Eagle' had an opportunity to take the fight, yet he ran away from it.

"Obviously, I was very upset. I feel more for everybody else that’s actually going through some hard times. It’s a little bit different, of course, I’m a little bit pissed. He had the opportunity to stay here. He was in Abu Dhabi, he had his chance to be able to come back before the borders were closed in Russia. Decided to go back to Dagestan, did not finish his camp."

Khabib had previously said that he left USA, where he was training for UFC 249 at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, after California issued a lockdown. He flew to Abu Dhabi with his team as UFC told him the card will take place there. But once again he had to retreat from there due to Covid-19 restrictions, and this time he went back to his home country.

With Russia imposing travel bans as well, Khabib revealed awhile back that he is pretty much stuck at home and UFC 249 might go ahead without him. Ferguson, on the other hand, does not think Khabib did enough to make sure the fight happens, which is why the Lightweight belt should be taken away from him.

"He's scared, he's running. He should be stripped of his title... He ran away. He obviously knew what he could do to help save this card. He didn’t want to take any of those chances. Everybody’s taking risks. He bailed out. It’s pretty hard to explain but he bailed out."

With Khabib out of the picture, there are words of Ferguson fighting Justin Gaethje as the headliners, wherever UFC 249 takes place. 'El Cucuy' is keeping up his training and staying ready for a bout, but he thinks Khabib will be avoiding him even if they took the fight to his doorstep.

"One thing I know is, I’m going to stay consistent with my training, and it doesn’t matter what location. You could drop me off on Khabib’s doorstep, and that dude still will not fight. It’s defend or vacate. That dude needs to be stripped."

H/t to MMA Fighting for the quotes.