Tony Ferguson has no plans of retiring, eyes Conor McGregor with a win over Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296

Tony Ferguson already has a callout ready should he beat Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296.

Ferguson is set to return to the Octagon on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada against Pimblett. It’s an intriguing matchup as Ferguson looks to snap his six-fight losing skid.

Ahead of the fight, UFC CEO Dana White said he thinks Tony Ferguson would retire if he loses to Paddy Pimblett. However, ‘El Cucuy’ says retirement is not even on his mind.

“I don’t want to retire. It’s not in my f*****g thought process, It’s not about getting cut, It’s not about doing all this stuff. It’s about competing. And what I did was I started competing without one, having fun, and two, really giving 100 percent into my training. I thought I did, but that means I have to be coachable, I have to be a student again. I have to ask for help,” Ferguson said to ESPN.

RELATED: Conor McGregor still hopeful for December return, tells Michael Chandler to sit down and wait.

With retirement not on his mind, Tony Ferguson said he texted Hunter Campbell to get him another fight. ‘El Cucuy’ says he has a good relationship with the UFC brass but did wait a while to get a fight. But, when he was offered Pimblett he was excited as he thinks it’s a step for him to get a scrap with McGregor.

“I didn’t hear anything for a while. Then all of a sudden, I asked my agent and he ended up hitting me up saying we got something. I liked it. I have nothing against the kid. Patrick seems like a pretty legit dude. He gets pretty big, his standup is okay, but his ground game is a lot better,” Ferguson added. “I’m going to be real, I love fighting internationals. It’s cool, I love it. Going after Khabib for a long time and going after ‘McNuggets’, this is about as close as it’s going to get for right now. So as soon as we get through this dude, we’ll go after Conor if he’ll sign on the dotted line and get through USADA.”

Tony Ferguson calling for a fight against Conor McGregor is nothing new. But, if ‘El Cucuy’ does beat Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296, getting the fight with the Irishman does make a lot more sense.