Tony Ferguson, Khabib Nurmagomedov's 'Stepping Stone' To Fight Against GSP

Khabib Nurmagomedov (Twitter @ @SupportKhabib)

JAKARTA - Khabib Nurmagomedov believes that the opportunity against the former super welter and middle class king, Georges St-Pierre in the Octagon is still open. Both of them showed an interest in buying and selling punches in the past.

St-Pierre has even stated that he is willing to go down to a lighter division in order to fight Numagomedov. Unfortunately, "Rush" - his nickname - has now retired from mixed martial arts competitions after the UFC had other plans.

Meanwhile Nurmagomedov recently spoke to Fight World Turkey. "The Eagle" - nicknamed the Russian fighter - is determined to fight St-Pierre after Tony Ferguson.

"Our opponent is clearly Tony Ferguson. No other name deserves it. We want a fight against the GSP (George St-Pierre), but the GSP is not compatible with the UFC, "said Nurmagomedov. Launching MMA News, Tuesday, November 19.

"For this reason, our only valuable option is Ferguson. However, it is still a mistake to say this fight is 100 percent going to happen without signing the papers. If the UFC and GSP can negotiate, we want to meet the GSP after the Ferguson fight."

Although it has not been officially announced, Nurmagomedov is expected to retain the UFC lightweight title against Ferguson in the first quarter of next year. Meanwhile St-Pierre said it would be open to talking to the UFC.

Meanwhile the President of the UFC, Dana White, initially scoffed at the idea of St-Pierre vs Khabib. But over time, White opened himself up to the idea.

"Tony Ferguson vs Khabib and obviously if Khabib wins that fight the GSP fight will be a fun battle to be sure," White said recently.

"I don't know if you've seen the GSP pictures but he looks very, very, very thin now. I think at the moment he is ten pounds lighter than Khabib. Something like that, someone told me, so that's pretty crazy."