Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are two of the greatest lightweights to never fight each other. They were scheduled to fight five times, however; it did not come to fruition due to a series of unfortunate events. Although Ferguson had trash-talked the Hall of Famer on certain occasions, ‘The Eagle’ once came to his support when people started to talk about ‘El Cucuy’s mental struggles.

The former interim light champion is gearing up for his last fight of 2023 against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296. As we inch closer to the final UFC pay-per-view, let us take a look at the instance when Khabib Nurmagomedov came to his rival’s aid during a press conference.

Khabib Nurmagomedov refused to comment on ‘El Cucuy’s personal struggles

During the fifth and final time the UFC scheduled a fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, media personnel asked ‘The Eagle’ about some of the things ‘El Cucuy’ said in the build-up to their clash. He mentioned that some people believe the former interim champion was having some kind of mental struggles. However, Nurmagomedov did not want to talk about his opponent’s problem.

“Honestly, you know, like, nothing personal here. I don’t wanna talk about his problem, like family stuff, mental stuff,” said the 29-0 icon in a video clip of the old press conference posted on Reddit. He urged the fans and media to let Tony Ferguson handle his problems and not speculate too much about it. Nurmagomedov added, “This is his problem, you know. Leave him alone, you know.” He even went on to extend his support for ‘El Cucuy’, claiming that he’d offer him help if he needed any. Let’s take a look at that front.

Nurmagomedov was willing to help ‘El Cucuy’

The UFC Hall of Famer mentioned that almost everybody in this world has some kind of problem they are dealing with. He believes no one can escape that predicament. Khabib Nurmagomedov said, “I don’t wanna talk about him, about his problem because I think everybody sitting here everybody has problems. Nobody’s safe.”

He even offered to help Tony Ferguson and urged others to do the same for the former interim champion if he needed it. Otherwise, he was focused on fighting ‘El Cucuy’, and did not want to make fun of or talk about his problems in public because Khabib Nurmagomedov thought that it was not appropriate. “If he needs any help, we have to help him. but we’re gonna fight next month. I don’t want to think about him. He’s my opponent [and] talk about his mental problem, I don’t think it’s [a good thing],” said the Dagestani legend.

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They never fought each other, but Khabib Nurmagomedov coming to the aid of Tony Ferguson was one of the best moments of sportsmanship in the history of the UFC. While ‘The Eagle’ has since retired, ‘El Cucuy’ is still actively fighting and is going to go head to head against a much younger Paddy Pimblett. We will have to see if the veteran puts an end to his losing streak or if ‘The Baddy’ maintains his undefeated streak.

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