Tony Ferguson has ruled out a fight against Conor McGregor in the immediate future after labeling him an “ex-girlfriend” during a recent interview. The former interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion is seeking more relevant fights like taking on the winner of the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

The Irishman announced recently that he will make his return to UFC once he recovers from a hand injury and called out a number of fighters as potential opponents for his comeback fight. Ferguson made it clear that he is not interested in fighting McGregor, who the Californian believes is too busy trying to fight “old men and make money”.

“No way man, the fans wouldn’t have it, they’d put up too much of a fight,” explained Ferguson during a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, as quoted on talkSport. “He’s been fighting old men lately; he’s trying to fight Mark Wahlberg. Maybe that’s the fight for him. The dude’s got a couple of things, making his money, doing his thing. I don’t know if he wants to fight anymore, but he is not my concern.”

Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor of Ireland laughs after the first round against Khabib Nurmagomedov of Russia in their UFC lightweight championship bout during the UFC 229 event inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Oct. 6, 2018. Harry How/Getty Images

“He is like one of those ex-girlfriends. I stopped worrying about that dude. At first he was in line trying to go for the title, and once he became irrelevant I stopped caring about him,” he added. “Now he’s mentioning my name? Get the f--- out of here dude, come on.”

Ferguson is currently undefeated in his last 12 fights in the lightweight division and both Nurmagomedov and Poirier have both admitted that the California native is next in line for a title shot after their fight on Saturday. Now UFC president Dana White has acknowledged it and confirmed that Ferguson will get the nod if he is “ready” – that was referring to the previous opportunities he failed to take due to various circumstances.

“Listen, again, if Tony Ferguson’s ready,” White told ESPN. “Tony Ferguson’s been offered opportunities before that he hasn’t taken. If Tony’s ready then yeah [he’s next].”

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