Ferguson rips Nate Diaz again: 'Money never made me soft'

Warning: Story contains coarse language

Tony Ferguson believes money has changed Nate Diaz for the worse, and he's none too pleased about it.

Since seeing an interim lightweight title bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov fall through just hours prior to UFC 209, "El Cucuy" has campaigned for a date with Diaz, who appears content with competing in triathlons and sitting on the $2 million he made in his August rematch with divisional champion Conor McGregor. The newly flush Diaz recently claimed facing the top-ranked Ferguson would be akin to doing McGregor's bidding - hence his refusal to take the fight - a stance Ferguson took major umbrage with in a Monday appearance in "The MMA Hour."

"Little b-tch," Ferguson said, according to MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti. "I don't know. I don't know what his problem is, dude. Like, I understand that you want to say like, 'McGregor, I'm not going to do your dirty work.' Dude, I don't want to go into name-calling, I don't have to do that, but I'm talking about if you're a fighter and you're in this organization and you say that you'd rather go and ride a bicycle, you've got better things to do, that's cute. That's real cute.

"I might as well Stockton Slap the sh-t outta you. Really? I'm from the 808, man. I don't have to talk about where I'm from, but I'm tough. I'm a hell of a lot tougher than that dude, because money never made me soft. And sh-t, even if it made me soft, I wouldn't forget where I came from. Because you know what? You've got a place to represent - like you said 'represent.' You’ve got a man right here that's calling you out, and you're not signing on the dotted line? You're a clown, dude. You're fake."

Diaz suspected Ferguson's callouts may have been machinations of Audie Attar, who manages both Ferguson and McGregor. Still, the 32-year-old's lack of interest in facing Ferguson prompted the lightweight contender to issue an ultimatum of sorts. The way he sees it, Diaz can either get back to doing what he does best and put his John Hancock on a bout agreement for this summer, or keep alternating between the couch and his bicycle.

"I mean, there's not too much I have to say to pick him apart. The dude is a good easy target, but I think that obviously if he says how interested he is in training for a good fight, let's go. If he wants to put all that effort towards a triathlon or something like that, put that effort and everything else towards something that you're actually in, that you're ranked in, in the world actually. Put in that effort. Act interested. If not, like I said, get the f-ck out."