Khabib Nurmagomedov is not closing the door on attempting to make a match-up with Tony Ferguson for a sixth time. But the UFC lightweight champ thinks “El Cucuy” is “finished”. With both men riding 12-fight win streaks in the UFC, their highly-anticipated bout fell apart on a fifth occasion in April after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with the 32-year-old Russian “Eagle” (30-0) stranded in his native Dagestan. Ferguson (26-4) pushed ahead and agreed to fight Justin Gaethje (22-2) for the interim title in May but “The Highlight” secured in a fifth-round TKO after dealing out some severe damage on the feet. “Nobody can be same long time – no Tony Ferguson, no Khabib, nobody,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN MMA. “And one day somebody gonna beat you or something gonna happen. God don’t give to nobody free power, reaction, mental, everything in one level always. One day it’s gonna go down. “And his day come, it was in May. Tony Ferguson’s time is finished. How he gonna come back? Someone gonna beat him again, I believe, because when you take damage like this you never gonna be same, never ever, even if you’re Tony Ferguson.” “He take too much damage. You see how he give up at end of the fight, he go like this,” Khabib added, covering his face. “Tony Ferguson is great fighter and right now he have choice. He can come to Fight Island and fight with Islam Makhachev. He have six-fight win streak, he is almost top 10. He have name, Why not? UFC: Dana all in for Adesanya vs Jones – ‘more of a reality now’ “Why he don’t wanna take this fight? Ali [Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s manager] gonna give him good money, Ali gonna give him US$100k purse, US$100k [to win]. Very good chance, and after that maybe he can fight for the title if he win. But I think his time is finished.” Ferguson received plenty of criticism for deciding to “make weight” for the original April fight date with Nurmagomedov, despite the fight having already been cancelled. His weight cut for the Gaethje fight then made that two cuts in less than a month. “Stupid. Stupid, stupid,” Nurmagomedov said of Ferguson’s actions. “Remember, I told you I like Tony Ferguson but he’s stupid guy. He keep talking about me. Why you keep talking about me? Someone smash your face, Justin Gaethje smash you everywhere. UFC: ‘Queen of Violence’ Lipski targets flyweight title within a year “If you wanna promote yourself, OK, I agree with you. But if you really wanna keep talking about me and you think it’s gonna be something special and put you in good position, this shows your mind, your weakness. What can we do? Maybe if he come back, but I don’t think this is possible.”