Former two-weight UFC titleholder, Conor McGregor has taken umbrage with former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson’s recent tirade aimed at the promotion and its president, Dana White – comparing the head honcho and other promotional officials to “drug dealers”.
Tony Ferguson, a former interim lightweight gold holder, is slated to return for the first time in a year this weekend on the main card of UFC 274 in Phoenix, Arizona – drawing fellow division contender, Michael Chandler in a high-profile matchup.
In his most recent outing back in May of last year, Oxnard veteran, Ferguson featured in the co-main event of UFC 262 against Beneil Dariush – suffering a third consecutive loss in a one-sided unanimous decision defeat.
The loss followed a prior unanimous decision loss to current lightweight kingpin, Charles Oliveira, and an eventual fifth round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in an interim title fight.
However, during his media availability earlier this week, Ferguson alluded to some “retaliation tactics” imposed by the promotion since his last fight with Dariush – resulting in his lengthy layoff from the Octagon.
Responding to Ferguson’s comments regarding the UFC and the above mentioned, White, McGregor, who was previously represented alongside Ferguson at Paradigm Sports Management, before the latter cut ties, claimed that maybe Ferguson was the issue, and not the organization.
“Tony Ferguson, who changes representation around 4 times a year, is saying it’s someone else (sic) fault he is in the position he is in,” Conor McGregor tweeted in a now-deleted post. “How many bridges do you burn before you look yourself in the mirror and say “maybe it’s me that’s the issue”. God bless you pal, I’ll say a prayer.”
Tony Ferguson also called for the UFC to implement a health insurance policy
At last night’s press conference, Ferguson also called for the UFC to implement a health insurance policy for fighters contractually tied to the organization.
“I’d say, let’s get some insurance for these fighters,” Tony Ferguson said during the UFC 274 press conference. “Let’s raise the tier up. You know what I mean – when they (the UFC) did the Reebok deal, they had tiers, so how many fights you had inside the Octagon, I say we do the same thing, man. We all have families, we all have to support our systems – let’s do that sh*t, man. I don’t know, Dana’s (White) not here but – insurance… I’m a grown-ass man, I’ve got to look after my family, so insurance is cool for me.”