Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
‘El Cucuy’ seems adamant that his working relationship with Dana White and the UFC is totally fine, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy with all the decisions being made by the promotion.
For fighters looking to hold on to their spots atop the UFC’s ranking structure, business relations with the promotion can get complicated. Look no further than Leon Edwards’ recent removal from the rankings, following several months of making it clear that he’d only take a top-4 opponent for his next bout.
Tony Ferguson may not be going that far, but he’s certainly got an axe to grind when it comes to getting big fights. “I want to be paid what I’m worth, and my value has increased,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie in a recent interview—speaking as to why he hasn’t been booked for another fight since losing to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 back in May. Ferguson went on to note that while he and Dana White aren’t friends, he has “zero problem” with the UFC president.
Still, when it comes to the matter of former Bellator champion Michael Chandler serving as an alternate for this week’s lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Khabib Nurmagomedov, it seems Ferguson couldn’t help but ponder why it isn’t him in that position instead.
“Chandler? Think about this: How many times are you going to put another (expletive) person in the (expletive) shuffle of the cards?” Ferguson asked. “Dana keeps shuffling me down the list. What? Because I’m (expletive) 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 (expletive), man? What’d I do to you? Why do you treat me like (expletive)? 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.”
Ferguson went on to explain that he’s got his management team working on coming to terms with the UFC for whatever fight may come next—even spitballing a tournament featuring himself, Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Justin Gaethje. In the meantime, however, he’ll just bide his time and wait until the money’s right.
“A lot of these younger fighters, they don’t respect the fact (that) Chuck (Liddell) and Tito (Ortiz) and all those older guys – those are like my big brothers and my big uncles – they got treated like (expletive), too,” Ferguson said. “My age group got treated like (expletive) by Dana, too. Dana’s like—I’m going to be real, I don’t think he’s very religious. But, he’s going to make his decisions and he’s going to be him. But I know one thing, I know the company, they are clutch. And so am I.
“All of us as the fighters at the UFC, I’ve been here for a very long time and these are some of the hardest (expletive) working people. That work under pressure, the most clutch (people) and they get the (expletive) (expletive) done. I’ve witnessed it first (expletive) hand. I love it. I love to be a part of it. That’s why I say there’s no conflict in this (expletive). I hire people for that stuff. Seriously, man. I love this (expletive) game. It’s so awesome, dude.”
UFC 254 goes down this Saturday morning live from the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. The PPV card will be headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje. Unless of course, one of them has to pull out of the fight. In which case, Michael Chandler will step in on short notice to fill their shoes.