Despite being booked to fight on three separate occasions, top-ranked lightweight contenders Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagodov have yet to meet in the Octagon.

Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were expected to square off for the interim lightweight title at UFC 209, but ‘The Eagle’ pulled out of the bout at the last minute due to a disastrous weight cut.

Nurmagomedov’s future is uncertain, but ‘El Cucuy’ owes him an ‘ass whooping’ and plans to lock horns with the Dagestani fighter in the fall.

“I’m not going to rob Khabib of an ass whooping. I will give him that ass whooping,” Ferguson told Damon Martin of Flo Combat in a recent interview. “Trust me, he does deserve that beat down by my hands. I’ve made so many more fans by his lame ass attempt to go missing in action. If that dude would have showed up and missed weight, I would have won that belt. That sh*t would have been mine automatically. No reason, no wonder his ass didn’t show up.

“Hopefully he has his [expletive] in order now and not the grand opening of his gym the same time around the fight. What I’m trying to say is, if he’s ready, I’ll be ready and we’ll be ready in September/October and we’ll make that sh*t happen.”

Ferguson, who has beaten the likes of former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and the top-ranked Edson Barboza, wants some ‘assurances’ that ‘The Eagle’ will show up to fight in September/October. The 33-year-old believes Nurmagomedov pulled out of UFC 209 because his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, wasn’t in his corner.

“If you want me to fight Khabib, there need to be some assurances cause I have a better chance of waiting for social security than waiting for this dude to show up on weight,” Ferguson said. “Straight up. This kid. He’s been going through Ramadan. I’m giving him one more day and I’m going to unleash the beast on this kid because I don’t think he has the heart to do it. I don’t think he has the will to win.

“Honestly, I don’t think he wanted to show up to that fight [at UFC 209] because his pops wasn’t there. He needed his daddy in his corner. So I’m not sure.”

Ferguson is on an impressive nine-fight win streak and is currently ranked as the No. 2 lightweight contender in the world. The 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu product last fought at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale where he battered dos Anjos in the main event.