The UFC isn’t running this weekend, but fight fans still have a show. Misfits Boxing 22 is stepping into the gap. And leading the charge? None other than Tony Ferguson. ‘El Cucuy’ has traded the cage for the ring, and his opponent Nathaniel Bustamante, more popular by his moniker, ‘Salt Papi’, might already be having second thoughts!

During a lighthearted interview on Fred Talks Fighting on YouTube, the nerves began to show. The host teased Salt Papi about finally being healthy this week. “Yes,” Papi replied, “I was ill like, last month, so it’s good.” When pressed further, he added, “Out of the way now, you better be ready now.”

So far, so good, right? But then the talk turned to Ferguson. The interviewer called him “a very angry man,” and reminded Papi that Ferguson would soon be in the building.

Papi tried to joke his way through it. “Please don’t get him too mad man,” he said nervously during the interview. “You know, if you want to go now, we can go now. You know, just joking. Cut that sh– out.” The slip spoke louder than the words; Tony Ferguson’s presence had already seemed to rattle him.

And who can blame him? Ferguson is entering a new chapter but carrying the same intensity that made him a cult figure in MMA. The 41-year-old walked away from the UFC after a record eight straight losses, but his story is far from finished.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani last month, he confessed, “My dad said, ‘You’re going to have to play a sport where you can get a scholarship, and you can go do that because I’m not going to pay for that s—.’ I wasn’t able to box with UFC. Nothing against that. The focus was all on that. Now I get to put shoes on, I get to put on boxing gloves, and I get to not worry about other things I used to not worry about. This is fun because it’s a whole new sport.”

Fun for him, maybe. For Salt Papi, it’s looking more like a nightmare. The pre-fight press conference in London told the same story. Tony Ferguson even claimed his opponent didn’t dare repeat his knockout predictions face-to-face. After all, the storyline is simple but compelling. Salt Papi is the entertainer, the internet star who became a boxer. Ferguson is the grizzled veteran, scarred from wars in the Octagon but still dangerous in a fistfight.

When you put them together on a weekend without UFC, the stakes suddenly feel bigger. So, will ‘El Cucuy’ ever return to the cage where he built his reputation as the ‘boogeyman’? According to him, only if it involves certain names!

Tony Ferguson points to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor as the only fights for UFC return

Tony Ferguson may be debuting in boxing this weekend, but he hasn’t fully closed the door on MMA. But Ferguson isn’t just thinking about new beginnings. He’s also looking back at what might have been. What if the fights that never happened finally came together?

In a recent chat with Seconds Out, Ferguson revealed he would return to the UFC under one condition, “I mean, the only fight [in the UFC] I’d wanna be able to do would be either Conor (McGregor), or ‘Khabiber’ (Khabib Nurmagomedov). You know? When he’s done with his world tour.”

The names tell the story. Ferguson’s career, for all its wild highlights, always felt unfinished without those two showdowns. He once ripped through the lightweight division on a 12-fight unbeaten streak, capturing the interim title in 2017. At the time, he seemed destined to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov for undisputed gold. Five times that matchup was booked. Five times it fell apart. Fate never allowed it.

And then there’s Conor McGregor. The Irish superstar crossed paths with the big names at lightweight except Ferguson. That fight also became a ghost that still lingers over the division. As such, the UFC veteran continued, “We’ve got some things, some unfinished business, but I don’t think that they would ever fight me. I don’t think that they want that.”

For now, though, Tony Ferguson’s future isn’t tied to ghosts of the past. It’s tied to Salt Papi and the Misfits stage. The UFC may not be running this weekend, but fight fans are still getting a main event loaded with tension. One man is chasing redemption, the other is clinging to bravado. Do you think ‘El Cucuy’ will be able to pull out a vintage performance this time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!