Tony Ferguson is not happy about the mystery surrounding Conor McGregor’s belt

On April 7, at UFC 223, UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will take on Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight title fight. That said, Ferguson doesn’t know whether he’ll be defending his interim title, or fighting for the undisputed title, which would first have to be stripped from Conor McGregor. UFC President Dana White has been incredibly vague and unclear when asked about this situation, and it’s starting to get to Ferguson.

“Yeah, it bothers me. It bothers the sh*t out of me, dude,” A fired up Ferguson admitted Monday on The MMA Hour (h/t MMAFighting.com). “Straight up. I’m the f*cking champ and we don’t know if we’re fighting for the real belt or not. What the f*ck is that? Dana White is telling us one thing on one [side] of the curtain and on the other side he’s saying, ‘No, Conor McGregor is the champion. Go and do your homework.’ And I love Dana, man, but I’m like, ‘What the f*ck, dude? Am I not the champ or am I the champ? Do you want to hype me up or do you not want to hype me up for this fight?’”

“It was almost like they were kind of embarrassed to ask or to be questioned,” Ferguson added. “They didn’t know what the f*ck was going on. It was kind of like, ‘Well sh*t, what’s going on?’

“Look, I understand that there’s business, and there’s probably big business to have to do with McGregor, but that has nothing to do with myself or my family. He does not make our world go around, that’s what I’m trying to say. I have 10 fights in a row that I have won via my coaches and my teammates and my family, not even in that order. Even before that, I knocked out everybody at 170 pounds. I’m a fight finisher. I’m a fan pleaser. And I go out there and I make people bloody. I’m the worst nightmare for anybody that steps inside that Octagon, and I am the f*cking champ.”

Do you think Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov should battle for the undisputed title at UFC 223?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/23/2018.