On March 4th, Tony Ferguson will take on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the interim UFC lightweight championship in a bout and a title shot a long time in the making. The fight pits the top two contenders in the division up against one another as current champion Conor McGregor awaits the birth of his first child (/chases down a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.) and the winner should be set up for a shot at the real title later in the year.

But don’t tell Ferguson that.

Though his fight with Nurmagomedov is only for an interim championship, “El Cucuy” believes this fight will determine who the real lightweight champion is, and in a recent interview with Submission Radio, Ferguson went off on the current lightweight champion.

"Well either way, [Nurmagomedov and I are] the toughest sons of b**ches in the division right now, because money made McNugget soft and we all know that” said Ferguson. “That dude, he wants to call himself the ghost, but he’s gonna fade like a ghost cause he’s a f**king buster. Straight up, dude. That dude’s fake as f**k. So regardless of what he decides to do, it’s what myself or Khabib decide to do with the belt.

“[McGregor], he’s trying to quit. He’s trying to look for excuses on his way out. He doesn’t want to f**king be in a man’s division. He might as well try to cut to 145 and lost that belt. Now he’s got a bulls**t and try to make excuses for the 155-pound belt. But when one of us has that belt - which is gonna be me - then he’s gonna a hard as f**k time trying to go on his way to victory. Because when you’re facing the boogeyman, you’re facing something kind of different. And both these guys don’t f**king get it. I don’t care who you have around you or who’s holding you back from throwing chairs and water bottles, when you’re locked inside that octagon with me, ain’t nothing gonna hold me back from getting you besides that referee. So I don’t care what belt he’s got. Straight up, I don’t care what belt is in my hands, that will be the real belt no matter what.”

This isn’t the first time Ferguson has taken shots at McGregor. Earlier this week, Ferguson responded to a post McGregor made on social media calling himself the ghost, trashing the champion for being “soft.” Ferguson explained he spoke out because he believed McGregor was taking a shot at his “El Cucuy” moniker.

"I got tagged in it. Somebody was like, ‘the only ghost that we know is El Cucuy, well he’s trying to jack your style, dude’. Come on dude, you’re really trying to pay attention to me that much by trying to jock my style? Dude, go play somewhere else. I told you, you have a pass from me. Wait till your kid is born, go enjoy your time. But you want to keep poking your nose at me and try to jack my style, jock my shit, try to rack up some points by being cool – f**king go do that somewhere else, dude. We’re real fighters over here. You ain’t no ghost. The only ghost you are is you’re gonna fade out. That’s why I call him a buster.”

Regardless of his beliefs, even if Ferguson beats Nurmagoemdov he won’t be the champion of the world until he beats McGregor, which may be a tough fight to wrangle as McGregor chases more profitable fish in the boxing seas. If McGregor does choose to do that though, Ferguson says he’s fine with it. He’s more concerned with facing the best competition, and right now Nurmagomedov is the only one man who fits that bill.

“Mayweather is gonna knock his ass out. Mayweather’s too much for him and he already knows that s**t too and the rest of the boxing world knows that. I know who to put my money on in that one. But the real fight that everyone wants to see – and who doesn’t know who to put their money on – would be the McGregor/Ferguson fight. Why? Cause I’m gonna smash that fool. I’m gonna submit him. You already saw him being submitted. That dude tapped before he even got the choke locked in. So I don’t know, man. I don’t even know if I would want to waste my time on that kind of dude. He doesn’t meet my fight standards. The only dude right now that meets it is Khabib.”

Ferguson will get his chance at UFC 209 in Las Vegas, Nev.

MUST-READ STORIES

Call in. Yoel Romero called in to Michael Bisping’s radio show to confront the champion.

No choice. Holly Holm says there is “no choice” but to win against Germain de Randamie.

95%. Derek Anderson says Anderson Silva is “still faster than 95 percent of middleweights.”

Confusing. Demian Maia is hoping for a title shot but says “things are confusing right now” in the UFC.

MEDIA STEW

Embedded.

Free fight.

The music video did not work for MVP.

So, here’s an idea...

Glover interview.

“If I come to your country, show me where the hookers at” is an actual quote from this.

LISTEN UP

MMA Mad.

Bushido Talk.

TWEETS

So remember when Cody did this yesterday?

Well, this happened.

Unification 135 lbs https://t.co/e536Lq7jZz — Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) February 9, 2017

Champ vs Champ https://t.co/IMeKsussWZ — Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) February 9, 2017

✊ Our champ has business to take care of March 25 #CrollaLinares2 https://t.co/ngJrtkuUm8 — GoldenBoyPromotions (@GoldenBoyBoxing) February 9, 2017

New definition of s**t talking.

@yoelromeromma is literally shitting his pants. A photo posted by Mikebisping (@mikebisping) on Feb 9, 2017 at 3:35pm PST

I don't like fighting cheaters @YoelRomeroMMA but if we do, please wear a diaper! — michael (@bisping) February 10, 2017

And Yoel (or his social media manager) has been going in as well.

What fight??? @bisping is still stuck in Halloween. I heard he dressed up as a and looks like he never took off the costume #ynuevo https://t.co/azpb02xGzU — Yoel Romero (@YoelRomeroMMA) February 9, 2017

That looks like two cars, not 40 buses.

It used to take me 40 buses to get to the gym. Now I take 40 buses to the gym. pic.twitter.com/VvIl2kTBHa — Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 9, 2017

I’m starting to think he might get this fight.

I got no prob with #usada @ufc feed me @demianmaia if not I will GS-Pee all over the cup #easymoney #realisback — Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) February 9, 2017

Had to know this was coming.

#Bellator president Scott Coker says he's talking with Mike Goldberg about potentially filling event dates PBP man Sean Grande can't fulfil. — Simon Head (@simonhead) February 9, 2017

Tim Boetsch may not win them all but man does he have some great highlights.

Confidence.

Who else likes to play with their food before they eat it? — Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) February 9, 2017

Tonya.

Wow look at that, totally out..if u doubted then ur stupid..RT @mynameisberto: @tonyaevinger and feet lol. pic.twitter.com/xwfDhrEENW — tonya evinger (@tonyaevinger) February 10, 2017

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fabricio Werdum (21-6-1) vs. Ben Rothwell (36-10); UFC 211, May 13.

Paul Daley (39-14-2) vs. Rory MacDonald (18-4); Bellator 179, May 19.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For any interested, me, Nick Baldwin, and Wes Riddle broke down UFC 208 on Before the Battle.

Enjoy the fights this weekend y’all and we’ll be back on Monday.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.