Donald Cerrone and Tony Ferguson will square off in a scintillating lightweight matchup at UFC 238 next month in Chicago, Illinois, as the two veterans round out a main card that needed a little something extra.
While Cerrone vs. Ferguson is one of the best stylistic pairings to make in the UFC’s jam-packed lightweight division, it took longer than expected to actually get the deal done. That’s according to “Cowboy” himself, who is always quick to sign the dotted line at the first sniff of a fight.
Ferguson, on the other hand, may have taken a little longer to agree to the June 8th meeting than Cerrone would have liked.
“There wasn’t really any convincing that had to go on (for me),” Cerrone told MMA Junkie. “More or less the UFC called me and asked me if I wanted to fight and I said yes, then it took two or three days for Tony to agree to the fight, which really pissed me off because the UFC called me and offered to me and left me in his limbo.
“I keep calling like, ‘Dana (White), I’m on (expletive) vacation. Can I drink beer and eat guacamole, or do you want me to go (expletive) run on the beach? Because this in-between, I don’t know what’s going on, is (expletive) bull(expletive).’ So Tony took long figuring it out.”
Cerrone, who is UFC’s all-time leader in wins and finishes, is coming off an outstanding unanimous decision win over Al Iaquinta at UFC Denver earlier this month. He has moved up the rankings pretty quickly since returning to 155 pounds back in January where he stopped rising contender Alexander Hernandez via TKO.
The decision for Cerrone to take on “El Cucuy” was easy as pie given Ferguson’s illustrious 11-fight win streak, but Cerrone doesn’t quite know why Ferguson would return from his absence for anything other than a title fight.
“I don’t think he wanted to have to fight again other than a title fight,” Cerrone said. “I think he believes he deserves a shot, so for him fighting someone like me is super dangerous. Why would he want to put himself at risk of (losing) a title shot? Especially fighting a (expletive) killer. But I don’t give a (expletive). That’s the difference between me. I’ll fight anybody. So I’ve got to beat them all anyway.”
While UFC has yet to officially announce Cerrone vs. Ferguson as a No. 1 contender’s bout — likely due in part to the uncertainty of Conor McGregor’s return to fighting — “Cowboy” believes that a win over Ferguson will land him his second UFC title shot. After all, “El Cucuy” hasn’t lost since dropping a decision to Michael Johnson back in 2012 and held the interim 155-pound strap just last year.
“I don’t even think UFC needs to say that, because this would be it. There would be nobody else,” Cerrone said. “I beat Tony; I get the title (shot). There’s no one else in line.”
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