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Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov had plenty of words for each other during the UFC 209 media call as their rivalry came to the boil ahead of their Interim Lightweight title bout.

With just over a week to go until the two men meet inside the octagon in the co-main event of UFC 209, both would take verbal shots at one another. This would overshadow fellow main eventers UFC Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and challenger Stephen Thompson who remained silent for much of the call.

Ferguson questions some of Khabib’s decision wins during media call

After the undefeated Russian’s promise that he would “break him”, Ferguson was clearly in the mood for some fighting talk and only happy to respond.

“You lost to Gleison Tibau“, said Ferguson referring to the close decision win early in Khabib’s UFC career that he knew would rile up his future opponent.

Khabib was quick to fire back at Ferguson’s own unconvincing performances and took aim over their common history in Michael Johnson. Although Ferguson lost that bout to their fellow 155 pounder Johnson, he did fight to the end in spite of an injury, a point he was only happy to point out.

“He broke my arm, I fought the rest of the fight and I slapped him with that arm.”

No punches pulled as Ferguson brings up Khabib’s difficulty with weight cutting

After Khabib’s further instance that he would “break” Ferguson in Las Vegas next Saturday, “El Cucuy” replied with a heated response.

“You ain’t gonna break s**t, the only thing you’re going to break is your heart when I kick your ass. Just try to make weight dude.

“You’re fat. You’ve never made weight and your conditioning sucks.”

The number 1 and 2 ranked lightweight’s would continue to trade barbs throughout the call and would definitely stoke the flames ahead of an already anticipated battle. The feud continuing to build through verbals will only build excitement among those already labelling this as “Fight of the Year”.

UFC 209 takes place on Saturday, March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.