“Now that we have Conor fighting Dustin, it looks like that fight will get booked on Jan. 23, they need a co-main event,” Chandler told ESPN. “Why wouldn’t it be Chandler vs. Ferguson?”
Former Bellator MMA lightweight champion Michael Chandler was hoping to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut as back-up for last month’s UFC 254 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, but both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje showed up on weight and ready to fight.
So with a full training camp and subsequent weight cut already under his belt, “Iron” is going to need a few extra weeks to let his body recover before starting the process all over again, because only lunatics like Tony Ferguson cut weight just for the hell of it. As a result, Chandler won’t be fighting “El Cucuy” in December.
“Tony, you had the opportunity to fight me in October and you said no,” Chandler told ESPN. “You didn’t even bring up fighting in December until it was way past the 11th hour. Let’s be realistic and sign up for Jan. 23. If you think you still have what it takes to fight for a title, fight me on Jan. 23. Why not take that opportunity instead of muddying the water with this silly stuff?”
Chandler is campaigning to fight in the co-main event of the Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier card, which has yet to be made official but is expected to take place in January. Unfortunately for “Iron” — and fight fans — it appears Ferguson is ready to move on.
“UFC has said you have already accepted another fight, so Michael Chandler stop crying to ESPN about fighting me,” Ferguson wrote on Twitter. “You want to compete against me I’ll be in Vegas on Dec 12. Accept or we move on. Champ Shit Only kid. F’kn Amateur Hour.”
Here’s the lightweight Top 10:
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Rafael dos Anjos
8. Paul Felder
9. Diego Ferreira
10. Al Iaquinta
I’m not sure what other fight makes sense for either combatant at this stage of their respective careers, so let’s hope UFC matchmakers can persuade Chandler and Ferguson to land on the same date.