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Ferguson: Nurmagomedov negotiations made week 'unpleasant'

MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images / MediaNews Group / Getty

Tony Ferguson says he was excited when he got the call to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, but negotiations didn't quite play out like he thought they would.

"The manner that they did it really, to me, wasn't the way I would've wanted it to go, so it made the week kind of unpleasant," Ferguson, who will challenge Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight title April 18, said Monday on "Ariel Helwani's MMA Show."

Ferguson added: "It was about as smooth as a bumpy road, but we got to our destination, which was pretty cool."

The No. 1 lightweight said his management informed him last Monday that the UFC planned to send over a bout agreement, but there was no prior indication that the fight was going to happen. Not long after, UFC president Dana White announced the fight was being targeted for the April pay-per-view card. That same day, Nurmagomedov's team released a photo of a signed bout agreement.

Ferguson went to Las Vegas to meet with UFC brass last Friday. That's when the deal got done, he said.

"It's about time we actually started having conversations and me being a little more personable with the company," Ferguson said. "It went good. I can't say that it went bad. It just took a little bit of time and a process. I'm lucky I had my agents with me fighting for my back."

Ferguson is riding a 12-fight winning streak. The 35-year-old has been scheduled to face Nurmagomedov four times before, dating back to 2015.

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