Khabib Nurmagomedov really wants to fight Tony Ferguson. The top contender has been asking for this fight for a while now and the UFC appeared to be into it, until Ferguson demanded to make the same amount of money as Khabib for the bout. The promotion has balked at his request, with Dana White saying it “ain’t happening”.

So what will Khabib do now? Well, he’s not backing off of his request. And he’s even willing to pay Ferguson to take the fight according to a recent Tweet:

Nurmagomedov (24-0, 8-0 UFC) originally wanted a fight with new lightweight champion Conor McGregor, but since McGregor is on the shelf for a while, Ferguson was the next best choice in his eyes. Meanwhile, Ferguson (22-3, 12-1 UFC) believed that a win over Rafael dos Anjos was going to get him a title a shot. That never materialized either due to McGregor’s layoff and other factors.

While it’s highly unusual for a fighter to offer to pay another fighter to compete against him, Khabib is apparently just doing whatever he can to secure a high-profile bout. Hopefully the UFC can figure the issue out and get these two in the cage together to see who the true number one contender is at 155 pounds.