Tony Ferguson has no problems with UFC president Dana White. That said, he does question his treatment by the promotion.
Ferguson hasn’t competed since UFC 249 in May and was initially set to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 254 this weekend only for negotiations to fail on Poirier’s side.
He was then offered a fight with Michael Chandler but took issue with the new UFC signing being paid more than him. And so, “El Cucuy” remains on the sidelines as he won’t be returning to action until he’s compensated fairly and what he’s worth.
“I’m not going to bull(expletive) anymore,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie. “(UFC president) Dana (White) 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 (expletive) 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. Check that (expletive) out. Everybody is like, ‘Hey, you’re asking this, there’s problems here.’ There’s no (expletive) problems. Everybody tries to put words in my mouth. I have zero problems with anybody. I have zero (expletive). I’ll call Dana, bro, and I’ll be real. I’m the only guy that will call his voicemail. I’m not proud of that, but that’s where I’m at in my thinking and my thoughts. … I said we weren’t friends. I never said we were friends, but we are in business and we are a club. Dana knows how clutch I am from ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ I had that (expletive) tryout and I won. I’ve completely changed my (expletive) thought process. I’m not the same (expletive) fighter.”
Ferguson To White: What Did I Do To You?
White recently stated that Chandler still makes sense as Ferguson’s next opponent and while the latter is willing to fight anybody, he sees no reason to add another fighter to the lightweight shuffle.
That even led Ferguson to question if the UFC head honcho had a personal problem with him.
“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.
“I’ve got (my manager) Lloyd (Pierson of VaynerSports) and them to work on my contracts. If they don’t want to get me a fight, then (expletive) it, dude. I’m not going to (expletive) and moan. I’m going to keep working. People won’t buy their (expletive) pay-per-views, and then they’ll let their friends know. Then their friends are going to let somebody else know, because when you don’t have a good time somewhere, they’re going to tell three more people. It’s what I learned in the restaurant business. So listen. If you have a bad time somewhere, you’re going to (expletive) tell everybody.”
For now, Ferguson will be remaining idle until a resolution is reached. But what hasn’t changed are the fights that interest him.
“I have Khabib I could talk (expletive) to, and I have Conor,” Ferguson added. “These are two fights that interest me because they’re in my weight class, they’re very good talent-wise, and I think could beat them both. Pretty much. It would be dope to fight in a tournament with me, Conor, you got Khabib, you got Gaethje. One of those old-school UFC 1 kind of things. That’s what I’m saying.”
Hopefully a resolution is reached quickly as fans are still pining to see a fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson in the future.
