Topprankade lättviktaren Tony Ferguson var tidigare tänkt att möta obesegrade Khabib Nurmagomedov om interimbältet under UFC 209, men ryssen drog sig sedan ur dagen innan. Många fighters erbjöd sig att hoppa in som ersättare för Khabib. Bantamviktaren och forne flugviktsutmanaren Dodson segrade under helgens gala mot Eddie Wineland i Nashville i Tennesse och berättar att han tidigare var beredd på att hoppa in i matchen mot Ferguson.
Det här berättade Dodson via ’MMAFighting’:
I just saw that Raphael Assuncao is gonna fight Marlon Moraes, the World Series [of Fighting] champion coming into the UFC finally. I’ve been wanting to fight this dude for a while but Raphael Assuncao is gonna sit there and pass up on me three times: Aljamain [Sterling] got hurt out in Albany, then I tried fighting him in Denver, and then I tried fighting him now and he still said no because… I don’t know if his balls haven’t dropped, he’s getting old, he’s getting hurt, he don’t want to deal with somebody that can actually crack him with speed? I know he’s getting old but we’re probably the same age and I can still see all the punches coming at me. It could be accounted to the fact that I don’t take a lot of abuse but I believe that everybody who is willing to be on the top should be saying ‘Yes.’
I even tried fighting Tony Ferguson when Khabib didn’t make weight. I was like, ‘I’m flying in Dana. I’m weighing 156. I’ll make weight right now.’ Granted, I got called an idiot, but I was willing to take the fight. Somebody had to say yes. If people in higher weight classes are still gonna tell me no, I guess I’m just a terrorizer in every weight class.
