UFC’s White: McGregor vs. Ferguson ‘has to happen’
Ferguson makes case for facing Irish star next by taking interim lightweight title.
LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor wants to fight again this year, UFC President Dana White said late Saturday night, identifying Tony Ferguson as the ideal opponent.
Costa Mesa’s Ferguson became interim lightweight champion Saturday night at UFC 216 by submitting Kevin Lee by triangle choke in the third round, then called out McGregor, the lightweight champion from Ireland who hasn’t fought in the UFC since November.
“Tony’s the interim champion. Conor’s the champion. That’s the fight that has to happen,” White told reporters after Ferguson won his 10th consecutive UFC fight, improving to 23-3.
“Tony keeps coming forward and Conor’s awesome. There’s no way it’s not a great fight.”
The date to accomplish a meeting by the end of the calendar year is Dec. 30 at UFC 219 in Las Vegas.
“I’m not injured. Let’s go tonight,” Ferguson said. “I’m fresh. I’m ready to go back to [training] Monday.”
Ferguson smartly banked on the belief that Lee would begin to fatigue as the fight wore on, after needing to drop 19 pounds for Friday’s weigh-in.
“I wanted to demonstrate to everyone that I’m a full, complete MMA fighter,” Ferguson said of landing kicks against Lee, then winning even though Lee was atop him in the third round.
Ferguson thinks his performance proved he should face McGregor next.
“I’m saving my good material” for McGregor, Ferguson said. “If Conor’s next … I’ll ankle pick him. He’ll be running away. I’ll finish him.”
After winning the lightweight belt in November, McGregor took a break to await the birth of his son, then he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Aug. 26 in a lucrative boxing match, losing by technical knockout in the 10th round.
While McGregor is believed to be interested in a third fight with Nate Diaz, this time at 155 pounds, Diaz may be pricing himself out of the bout, and White said “nobody” is discussing Diaz for McGregor’s next bout.
“The boy’s scared,” Ferguson said of McGregor. “He’s not mentioned my name one time. But I don’t care anymore. This is chess and this is check.
“He has nowhere to run. He can set [the belt] down, or run away.”
Lee (16-3) said dropping 19 pounds less than 24 hours before the weigh-in and battling through a staph infection he said he kept secret were “too much to handle … but Tony Ferguson was the better fighter tonight.”
Lee said he’s strongly considering a move up to welterweight (170 pounds), and also pushed for the formation of a 165-pound weight class.
Ferguson’s victory followed another outstanding performance by flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (27-2-1), who broke the UFC record for consecutive successful title defenses (11) in the co-main event.
White called Johnson the best UFC fighter of all time.
“It’s nice not to have Anderson Silva’s name next to mine,” Johnson said after surpassing the former champion while winning his 13th consecutive UFC fight.
Johnson’s historic victory came by a stunning move: a mid-air transition from a suplex to an armbar submission of No.3-rated flyweight Ray Borg.
“I shifted his weight. I was like, ‘Got you.’ I grunted and threw him up and kept squeezing and squeezing,” Johnson said of his seemingly unprecedented move to set up the finish.
“Obviously, I’m not in the sport to take concussions or blows. [My] skill set is to move fluidly … I look at my opponent to see what they’re good at and take it away from them and then I look for the submission or finish.”
Borg almost applauded Johnson’s creativity. “It was sneaky. It stunk being on the receiving end of it.”