Five times former UFC interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson and retired lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomeov, and five times it didn’t happen. With The Eagle retired, it would appear that the fight will never happen. However, during a recent appearance on Submission Radio, El Cucuy said he thinks Nurmagomedov will return, and he’s staying ready.

I think Justin had a hell of a week out there in Abu Dhabi. I’m not gonna say people were f***ing with him, but I’m gonna be real, that wasn’t the same Justin, said TFerg. But you guys saw the same s*** with me, right? So, if you want somebody to lose, then you’re gonna make all that s*** happen. You gotta be ready for it and you can’t leave it in the hands of the judges, and Gaethje went out there unprepared, bro, made it emotional. So, it’s the same s***. I’m gonna be real, nobody wants to hurt Gaethje. Khabib didn’t, I didn’t. I said that same s*** in my interview. Khabib is a f***ing copycat of everything I say. And nothing against Khabib, but a can of coke and a f***ing double cheese burger? F*** off, dude. The can of coke and all the bulls***, dude, that bulls*** are my little things. You want to fight GSP? I’m glad the dude’s retired. He needs to enjoy your s***. You had a great fight. It was a good fight, bro. You know what I mean? It was smart. It’s different, dude, when you’re inside that cage. It really is. And I got a lot of props for Khabib and what he’s done, but I’m gonna be real, he’s still my bitch, it’s still my mat.

I completely called it out. I called it out on my post. You guys can see that. I called he was gonna retire. I mean, [manager] Ali Abdelaziz did his job. He kept his client safe, kept him away from very dangerous opponents. I mean, that’s what an agent and a manger is supposed to do. Although, he is a piece of s***, but I have to say, he did the smart thing. I mean, he avoided me at all f***ing costs. I mean, the Russians, they avoided me at all f***ing costs. That’s f***ing awesome. So, you know what, I did my job. They ran. F***en Dagestani ran with his tail between his legs. But you know what, he’s off in the sunset. I have to give him props. Go handle your family business, and I’ll see you when you get here. Back. Because you’re gonna miss it like Conor. So, you know what, I’m calling it out again, he’s going to be back. So, I’ll be f***ing ready.

Even if Khabib don’t f***ing fight me, he’s gonna come back. He likes this sport, he enjoyed it. If he wants, you know, we’ll go on Chael Sonnen’s Submission Underground. We’ll handle this thing like men, like Bushido. People want to see the competition, and there’s a lot of different things that we could do where we could compete. I wouldn’t mind competing with him on the Ultimate Fighter. That’d be kind of fun.

Ferguson also commented on Nurmagomedov’s current #1 pound for pound ranking in the UFC.

Oh, f*** him, dude. Half of his fights were two-round fights over in Europe, said Ferguson. And the one thing is, he never fought me. How could you be a pound-for-pound pussy? Yeah, I mean, there you go. Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, all these guys are much better than Khabib. They’ve had the titles. Matt Hughes. Look at all these other guys. What, did you forget? It’s always gonna be the greatest of all time for five minutes. What the f***? It’s going to be consistently changing.

And what’s next?

Well, I don’t know. I kind of called out everybody on one post, and Dustin already f***en said ‘Let’s do it.’ So, he wants to fight for the f***en title for me, so he’s already the kind of dude to skip s*** and kind of whatever he’s gotta do. So, the way I called it was, you gotta have myself and you gotta have Dustin Poirier fight for the title. I mean, Gaethje f***ing lost. I’ve been sitting here and I’ve been doing my s*** and making sure I’m keeping cool, calm and collected. Being real, give me the f***ing title shot. Give me my chance. You guys want to see me fight, I really want to fight.”

I’m ready for a belt. That’s why I said I’m gonna throw a bit more media out there. I haven’t done it because I haven’t had a reason before. Even because I didn’t want to scare Khabib away. But even without f***en fighting that bitch I made him retire. So, like I said, props to you, ride off into the sunset with your f***king hat. When you come back, I’ll put my f***en baseball hat against your hat and we’ll have a nice cultured exchange.