Tony Ferguson has dream fights like everybody else in the UFC but he might be one of the few people who doesn’t seem to care much about ever facing Conor McGregor.
As it turns out, Ferguson is happy to face Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC 223 main event to determine a new undisputed lightweight champion but even the belt isn’t all that important to him in the long run.
That probably explains why Ferguson doesn’t feel like McGregor’s shadow is looming over the division because he’s still clutching a lightweight title right now.
Rather than chase down McGregor and his ‘red panty night’ guarantee, Ferguson would much rather face the toughest challenge possible in his dream fight and that would mean taking on the longest reigning welterweight champion in UFC history.
“GSP,” Ferguson said while naming Georges St-Pierre as his dream opponent at a media luncheon on Thursday. “I mean, that’s what I signed up for in the beginning. I was 170 pounds. 155 [pounds] was forced on me. 170 pounds — where I have 12 fights.”
“A GSP match, I mean really, he wants a money fight, but he’s an athlete. We all have to pay bills. You’ve got to pay your taxes. Pay attention because when you’re not doing it and you’re not paying attention and you’re going on just fighting for money fights, you forget and [the title] becomes tarnished.”
St-Pierre returned to the UFC this past November where he won the middleweight title with a third round submission victory over Michael Bisping to become a two-division champion after defending the welterweight belt on nine occasions before taking nearly four years off from the sport.
In recent weeks, St-Pierre has said that he hopes to fight again one day after dealing with a crippling bout of ulcerative colitis and dropping down to lightweight to win a third world title might just be the kind of matchup that would entice him to return.
Ferguson certainly sounds ready for the challenge if St-Pierre ever wants to come back and take on the best lightweight in the world.
