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UFC news 2017: Nurmagomedov's manager issues ultimatum to Ferguson

Noriel See Saturday, January 07, 2017

An image of Khabib Nurmagomedov after his fight with Michael Johnson at UFC 205 | UFC

Looks like Khabib Nurmagomedov's camp is tired of waiting for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Tony Ferguson to straighten things out in their contract dispute, because Nurmagomedov's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, just issued an ultimatum to Ferguson.

"You have 6 days to make a deal with the UFC; if you don't make a deal I'm going to find someone else to fight @danawhite," Abdelaziz said in a tweet directed at Ferguson.

Well, it was a strange message because first of all, it was quite obvious that this message was supposed to be posted on Nurmagomedov's account, not Abdelaziz's. Second, the tweet was promptly deleted and it was not reposted on Nurmagomedov's Twitter account. So, who knows if they are seriously considering other fights if talks between the UFC and Ferguson continues to stall.

The ultimatum came days after Nurmagomedov offered Ferguson $200,000 to take the fight. Unfortunately, Ferguson refused to take the money because he wants the UFC to pay him for what he's worth.

"If you got Khabib willing to sacrifice his life and give me $200,000 of his own money to fight, something's wrong with that shit. I'm not going to take his money, he's got a family, too, and he's got bills to pay. I'm not going after Khabib's (money), I want what's mine and to be compensated for what my numbers prove to be," he said on the MMA Hour (via MMA Mania).

If Nurmagomedov is tired of waiting he can always take another fight, right? In the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Joe Rogan explained (via the Daily Star) that he was trying to get Nurmagomedov to accept a fight against UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo because the promotion badly needed big pay-per-view worthy fights, especially when a lot of their big name fighters were on the sideline.

Nurmagomedov thinks the UFC is hiding Conor McGregor from him, but the fight against Aldo is reportedly for the interim lightweight title. If he takes the fight, it will move him one step closer to a fight with McGregor.