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Tony Ferguson is looking to turn things around after a bad loss to Justin Gaethje, but can’t seem to get a fight booked. He took that frustration out on UFC president Dana White.
Tony Ferguson is not a happy man.
The former interim lightweight champion and former #1 contender is sitting on the sidelines as his white whale Khabib Nurmagomedov heads into a UFC 254 scrap against new top lightweight Justin Gaethje. Gaethje replaced Khabib and beat Ferguson soundly at UFC 249, an event that happened in May but feels forever ago now. Since then “El Cucuy” has been relegated to has-been status not just by a large percentage of fickle fight fans but Khabib himself.
“I think it’s done now because Ferguson is old and I don’t think he can come back from all this damage,” Khabib repeated in a new interview with BT Sport. “Because he took too much damage. It’s my opinion, but if you want to come back, okay. But you have to fight with someone. To come back, you have to deserve this.”
Ferguson has made it clear he’s eager to get back in the cage, but issues with pay seem to be coming to a head between him and the UFC. A fight against Dustin Poirier as the UFC 254 co-main fell apart over pay. And now he seems quite unhappy with the UFC’s attempts to slot him against Bellator import Michael Chandler. In a new interview with MMA Junkie, he went back and forth between insisting he’s a company man that is cool with the boss and practically calling Dana White a racist.
“I’m not going to bulls**t anymore,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie. “Dana is cool. Me and Dana are chill. But when it comes down to it, I want to be paid what I’m worth, and my value has increased. I put out there a lot of energy. I don’t have to talk about it. I don’t have to talk about my contracts and say s**t about it, because everybody else does that. I’m past that. I’ve been in this organization for 10-plus years.”
“I’m not even asking anything,” he continued. “Check that s**t out. Everybody is like ‘Hey, you’re asking this, there’s problems here.’ There’s no f**king problems. Everybody tries to put words in my mouth. I have zero problems with anybody.”
But he certainly sounds like he has a problem. With his pay. With proposed opponent Michael Chandler. And because of that, with Dana White.
“Chandler? Think about this: How many times are you going to put another f**king person in the f**king shuffle of the cards?” Ferguson asked. “Dana keeps shuffling me down the list. What? Because I’m f**king Mexican? What’s up Dana, you don’t like Mexicans? You don’t like brown people? I’m not going to call you a racist, but what the f**k, man? What’d I do to you? Why do you treat me like s**t? My last name is Ferguson. I don’t want to get mad anymore. I don’t. I’m not going to. But that being said, I said my piece. I’m too busy working.”
“I’ve got [manager] Lloyd [Pierson] and them to work on my contracts. If they don’t want to get me a fight, then f**k it, dude. I’m not going to piss and moan. I’m going to keep working.”
Unfortunately for Ferguson, he’s just the latest in a long line of top fighters trying to demand more money. Thus far the UFC has been happy to shelve its malcontents until they break and come back for the contracted amount of money. Maybe Tony will get lucky and a last second injury or positive COVID-19 test will bring the UFC back to the table like with Jorge Masvidal. But the promotion already has Michael Chandler signed and ready to go for that.
It’s a shame, too. Tony Ferguson has been a company man. He’s stepped up every time the UFC has asked him to, even after stripping him of his interim lightweight title. If there’s ever been a time where they should just stop being hardasses and pay someone, it’s now with Tony Ferguson. But what do you think the chances of that happening are, Maniacs?