Tony Ferguson Pulls Nate Diaz’s Gangster Card

Tony Ferguson really wants to meet Nate Diaz inside of the Octagon.

Earlier this year “El Cucuy” was expected to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of UFC 209 for the interim lightweight title, seeing as current division champ Conor McGregor is on a bit of a hiatus. That bout didn’t go through, however, as “The Eagle” failed to weigh-in after being hospitalized due to complications from his strenuous weight cut.

Since then, Ferguson has been itching to let out his frustrations inside the Octagon but he wants the right opponent. The No. 2-ranked lightweight has been calling out Nate Diaz as of late, who is riding a ton of momentum as he comes off his heated rivalry with Conor McGregor.

Ferguson’s most recent attempt to get under the Stockton Native’s skin came earlier this week (Mon. May 22, 2017) on The MMA Hour, where Ferguson pulled Diaz’s gangster card (quotes via MMA Mania):

“He wants to talk about doing this biking thing, you don’t even own a Harley, you got a Schwinn bike,” said Ferguson. “You have got no heart. You call yourself gangster? You’re backing out from a fight. Let’s go dude. We’ve got a main event that’s open that needs to be filled. So if you want to make some money and impress the fans, want to get back out there and sell your weed, that’s great. Sign on the dotted line and put your name back out in the crowd. Let’s go kid.”

He then proceeded to threaten to “Stockton Slap” Diaz and claimed to be tougher than the man from the 209:

“You’re a bitch, I don’t know what his problem is,” Ferguson said. “I understand you said McGregor, I’m not going to do your dirty work for you. I don’t want to have to go into name calling, I don’t want to do that, but if you’re a fighter in this organization, and you said you’d rather go ride a bicycle, you got better things to do? That’s cute. That’s real cute.

“I might as well Stockton slap the shit out of you,” he continued. “I’m from the 805, I’m tough. And I don’t have to talk about how tough I am, but I am a hell of a lot tougher than that dude.”

Since fighting against McGregor it seems its been harder and harder to get Diaz back into the Octagon, as he has been demanding a significant amount of money to put the gloves back on. Ferguson stated that Diaz’s recent financial gains have made him soft – but money hasn’t affected him:

“Money never made me soft,” he said. “Shit, even if it made me soft I wouldn’t forget where I came from. You have a place to represent, you got a man calling you out right here and you’re not signing on the dotted line? You’re a clown dude. You’re fake.”