Manager says Khabib is Focused on Tony Ferguson

When it comes to managers, few are quite as vocal as many of MMA’s biggest stars manager, Ali Abdelaziz. One of his fighters happens to be the hot commodity that is Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov. Khabib last fought at UFC 219 where he put on an epic beating on top five Lightweight, Edson Barboza over the span of three rounds on route to a clear-cut unanimous decision that included multiple 10-8 round scores. Abdelaziz tweeted out today that they are looking at the interim champion, Tony Ferguson for their next move.

To be clear I talked to @TeamKhabib . Our main focus is @TonyFergusonXT he deserves the next ass whooping. He earned it. And for the former UFC champion @TheNotoriousMMA he can stay on the boxing side. Bye bye ✋🏽@danawhite

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) January 5, 2018

To be clear I talked to @TeamKhabib . Our main focus is @TonyFergusonXT he deserves the next ass whooping. He earned it. And for the former UFC champion @TheNotoriousMMA he can stay on the boxing side. Bye bye ✋🏽@danawhite

Abdelaziz is also never afraid to retort to the fans.

The whole town of Ireland has been cut from the UFC my man. Except 2 – Conor who never fights and 2nd guy a journeyman with A lot of balls. But MMA is finished in Ireland

— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) January 5, 2018

The whole town of Ireland has been cut from the UFC my man. Except 2 – Conor who never fights and 2nd guy a journeyman with A lot of balls. But MMA is finished in Ireland

The win over Barboza was so dominant that Barboza only landed 25 strikes to Khabib’s 154…that’s also tallied along with four takedowns for Khabib to zero.

In the aftermath of the event, there have been many discussions about who is 155’s best and who would beat who among the big three that is Khabib, Tony Ferguson, and Conor McGregor. All three have gone back and forth on Twitter several times, now and in the past. Most notably though is the champion, McGregor and Khabib who have shared several tweets jabbing at one another. But who will actually end up fighting who is still to be determined. Most logically, the interim champion, Tony Ferguson should fight the undisputed champion, McGregor next…because that’s how that usually works. As we all know, times have changed thanks to McGregor and despite no injury and taking fights in other sports, it continues to leave many questions around him.

As we don’t appear to be getting closer to a McGregor return in MMA, perhaps we will see the fight we initially expected to be for the interim title at UFC 209, Khabib vs Ferguson.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/5/2018.