Michael Chandler is still more than down to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 254 later this month.
Chandler is currently the official backup for the lightweight title unification main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje on October 24.
He was originally offered fights with both Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson. However, both fighters had negotiation issues with the UFC with Ferguson, in particular, being aggrieved at Chandler being paid more than him.
“Now you’re going to bring in a new dude who I have no f*cking clue who (he) is,” Ferguson told ESPN. “The dude has less than 100k on Twitter and you’re trying to get him more notoriety by throwing him against me and throwing him on the Khabib card. I get that but don’t pay the f*ck more than us. He has zero time in the UFC. I don’t know about roids and all that stuff. I don’t get into that kinda shit with everybody.”
Chandler would hit back at him soon after.
Though the chances of a fight happening now are unlikely with just under two weeks to go for the event, Chandler is still open to facing Ferguson in what is the only fight that currently interests him — other than a title bout, of course.
“I’m already going Oct. 24th, I’m already making weight, so yes, I would definitely fight him,” Chandler told MMA Junkie. “He’s kind of the only guy that I’m interested in fighting right now. It’s already been talked about, so you don’t add any names to that hat whenever a guy in the top five is already talked about.”
Chandler added that when he signed with the UFC, he said yes to all the potential opponents that were offered his way. And as far as he is concerned, Ferguson robbed himself of the chance of competing against him on the biggest card of the year.
“Tony Ferguson was on the table, he said no; Dustin Poirier was on the table, he said no,” Chandler added. “Since, Dustin Poirier has said yes to Conor (McGregor) and I think Conor has said yes to Dustin. So that leaves Tony Ferguson. That’s why I said in his way with all caps on Twitter, I said you already turned down a fight against me on the biggest card of the year. This card was going to have a lot of eyeballs and we could’ve been the co-main event and got this tournament going as he likes to talk.
“I could’ve stepped on his mat and see how things shake out. I think I go out there and beat Tony Ferguson and I immediately put myself on the title picture.”
What do you think of the situation?