UFC News: Tony Ferguson Fight Preferred Over Conor McGregor By Khabib Camp

Despite facing Conor McGregor in just over a month, Khabib Nurmagomedov and his father Abdulmanap are still interested in a fight with Tony Ferguson.

Khabib will defend his lightweight title against McGregor at UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas, in a fight that many, including UFC president Dana White, expect to be the biggest in MMA history. One of the reasons for it is Khabib's longstanding rivalry with McGregor, notably reaching a boiling point in April during the infamous bus incident in Brooklyn. In addition, it will be McGregor's first fight inside the octagon in 23 months and the Irish cash-cow is expected to draw a lot of eyes upon his return.

It's already the second biggest gate in UFC history after tickets sold out in just three minutes, while White predicts it could surpass 2 million pay-per-view buys, with the current record for an MMA event being 1.6 million, also set by McGregor.

In terms of hype and money, Khabib understands why it's a great fight for him, but according to Abdulmanap, they still prefer Ferguson when it comes to a competitive standpoint.

An encounter between Khabib and Ferguson is one of the biggest dream fights in MMA, not only because the duo is on a combined 20-fight win streak, with 10 victories each under the UFC's banner, but because of the stylistic matchup as well. They were scheduled to fight four times, most recently at UFC 223 in April, but the fight was remarkably called off all four times due to injury.

Ferguson was the one injured this time, but will return to action in the co-main event of UFC 229 against Anthony Pettis, and the Nurmagomedov camp are hoping "El Cucuy" comes out victorious.

"For the hype, for the money, to bury Conor’s era it (the situation) is even better for us," Abdulmanap said, according to RT. "But if we talk purely sports-wise — we still want the Ferguson fight. I really want him to come back and defeat (Anthony) Pettis."

"The intrigue is still there, and the whole world is interested (in the Ferguson fight). It would be 11 and 0 Khabib [in the UFC], 11 and 0 for him. And the fight that hasn’t happened yet," he added.

Rumors state that McGregor is refusing to do press conferences ahead of his fight with Khabib. However, that hasn't stopped him from his famed mental warfare as the former lightweight champion recently started attacking Khabib's friends and family on social media.

Abdulmanap was one of the targets but he claims neither himself nor his son will be affected mentally. But that does not mean they'll forget McGregor's jibes either.

"Mentally they can’t get (under our skin). In that aspect we are standing firm," he added. "We are even letting certain things pass. But we are not forgiving anything. The cage and the fight are still ahead (for Khabib and Conor)."