UFC President Dana White has a different take entirely when it comes to Tony Ferguson’s Octagon return.
Ferguson, who hasn’t competed since defeating Anthony Pettis at last October’s UFC 229, has been dealing with personal issues. Many of the reports have been rather disturbing.
“El Cucuy” has, however, kept his fans in the loop via social media. In a post prior to last weekend’s UFC 236, Ferguson insisted he had passed his medical evaluations and would be back in the Octagon soon.
“I don’t know if Tony’s ready to fight, I don’t know if that’s absolutely accurate,” White said (via MMAJunkie). “We haven’t had anybody evaluate him yet.”
Injuries have impacted Ferguson’s career in several ways. For instance, he, not Dustin Poirier, was supposed to be fighting Max Holloway for the interim lightweight title at UFC 236.
“This was (Ferguson’s) fight,” White said. “This was supposed to be him and Max, this was his fight, and he turned it down. We’ve made it very clear that the winner of this fight would fight for the title. So that’s the deal. Unless something happens to Dustin Poirier. He gets hurt, he gets injured or something happens, he’s got the fight.”
Poirier went on to win the interim title by toppling Holloway. Now, according to White, ‘The Diamond’ will fight Khabib Nurmagomedov to unify the championship.
Where does that leave Ferguson? White made it clear “El Cucuy” won’t return until he is confident that Ferguson has handled his personal affairs. The veteran was once the clear-cut title contender in a stacked division. Now, his return remains uncertain.
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