Tony Ferguson says he saw fear in Conor McGregor’s eyes when he saw him backstage

UFC Lightweight contender Tony Ferguson said that he saw fear in Conor McGregor's eyes when the two fighters crossed paths at the UFC 229 pre-fight weigh-in last week.

Ferguson and McGregor have circled each other for sometime but have yet to actually fight in the Octagon. A win for McGregor against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 would have positioned Ferguson for a title fight against the Dubliner given his win over Anthony Pettis on the card's co-main event. Ferguson said that McGregor doesn't want anything to do with him and that the UFC will make sure that the two don't meet inside the cage.

"It was funny I actually saw Conor in the back at the weigh-ins," said Ferguson. "He was strutting up, doing his thing and I could see his shadow. I looked over my shoulder and he has stopped in his tracks. I saw fear. I saw the biggest fear ever. "He forgot for a split second - the same way I saw him over at [Floyd] Mayweather, when he was over at the presser - when I saw that, he doesn't want a piece of me. "Management will make sure that I don't ever touch that guy because I'll make that dude mince meat. I'll chop that dude up and feed him to the dogs. "Then you got Khabib; he's a game opponent; a real fighter. I don't know about that B.S. that happened afterwards but emotions flare inside there. "You guys have no idea what we have to prepare for. I recommend any of you guys to go pick up a pair of gloves and hand wraps and spar somebody. See if that makes you excited a little. If that does excite you, then you're in the right sport. "What the UFC is going to do with that is not on me. I'm going to prepare for the next guy in front of me. Straight up."

Ferguson and Nurmagomedov's proposed fight has fell through on four separate occasions but the former interim champion insists that he is the champion at Lightweight and that he deserves to fight the undefeated Russian.

"Khabib and I deserve to fight. We need to fight for the fifth time, we need to try this out again. He is the champ, I was the interim champ. I’m still the fucking champ. There’s no BS in this."