Khabib denies making ‘lucky punch’ comment, responds to Tony Ferguson — ‘Leave this sport for the young fighters’

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Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t want any part of a reignited feud with former rival Tony Ferguson.

The retired Russian legend made headlines this week for claiming that Ferguson could only have defeated him via “lucky punch.” Unsurprisingly, Ferguson took issue with that comment and quickly posted a small social media rant labeling “The Eagle” a fat chicken (among other things). All things considered, it was a pretty standard “El Cucuy” post. Still, Nurmagomedov responded on X early Tuesday morning, and he denied making those recent comments.

“You know what’s interesting,” Nurmagomedov posted. “I didn’t say anything about you, people just post whatever they want on the internet and write that it’s Khabib. Enjoy your life and your family, leave this sport for the young fighters.”

The problem with Khabib’s post (or whoever is running his account) is that the source of the lucky punch quote was a podcast … that’s on YouTube … in English! It can still be watched right HERE! You can watch Nurmagomedov say it himself at about the 24:30 mark.

Regardless, the final sentence is good advice. At 40 years of age, Ferguson recently set the UFC record for consecutive losses when he was easily tapped out by Michael Chiesa for an eighth straight defeat. “El Cucuy” hasn’t officially been released by the UFC or retired outright, but there’s nothing left for him in the cage.

Sadly, we’ll never actually know what would’ve happened had Ferguson and Khabib met at the height of their respective powers. Ferguson’s ugly losing streak has largely killed off what once was a strong belief that the Californian could really trouble the legendary “Eagle,” but it still remains as an all-time “what if” in MMA history.

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