Cris Cyborg has criticised the UFC for telling the media next week’s event was off before they told the main event fighter, Tony Ferguson.
Speaking to her fans on Twitter ‘Cyborg’ said it was this type of treatment which makes her grateful to be with Bellator.
“I feel the biggest difference working with @BellatorMMA is the change in culture. @TonyFergusonXT deserved to find out before the media.”
Yesterday news broke that Dana White had scrapped the event and postponed all future events, despite being ready to go. According to the UFC President, he received a call from bosses at Disney and ESPN asking him to not proceed with UFC 249 on April 18.
The governor of California Gavin Newsom is believed to have put in a call to shut down the event after hearing it would take place on an Indian reservation in his state.
As the news broke Ferguson was in the middle of giving an interview and hadn’t been giving a courtesy call from the UFC. ‘El Cucuy’ was set to face Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title. Original opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov had previously withdrawn from a match-up one week prior due to travel issues in his native Russia which were related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Upon hearing the bad news Ferguson was surprisingly calm while speaking with The OCR’s Brian Martin, he said. “Oh Wow. Oh well. I’m still gonna train”
“Ummm, you know what? I’m sure it’s for a good reason. Let’s be real. I gotta keep the faith, I gotta keep this (expletive) keep this circle close, bro, and just keep focusing on what we can control, which is our heart rate and breathing”.
Do you agree with Cris Cyborg? Should the UFC have informed Tony Ferguson about his fight cancellation before telling the media?