Amid the chaos and controversy surrounding UFC 279, Tony Ferguson had a rather entertaining story to tell about driving in Hunter Campbell’s Bentley following his negotiation to face Nate Diaz in the evening’s main event.
Speaking to Brett Okamoto with ESPN, Tony Ferguson explained how he found himself behind the wheel of the owned by the UFC’s chief business officer.
“So, I get to the spot, the APEX and my agent has all my food. Chris has all my food in his truck so we transfer all the food from there to my stuff and then we go inside the spot where we’re about to go. No parking anywhere. I wanted to park in the shade because I had food in the trunk. I don’t want it to get warm. So I park in the storage area where the folding doors are in the back and there’s this Bentley parked right there and I said, ‘Cool, I’ll just park right here in this other spot.’ It wasn’t marked for anything. It was just a shipping spot.
“I go to park and security comes out and says, ‘Hey, you can’t park here.’ I was like, ‘It’s all good, I’m alright. I’m just gonna park here for a second. I’ll be right back.’ He’s like, ‘No, seriously. This is Dana’s spot.’ By that time, I already knew I was gonna fight. I was kind of thinking about contracts already so I didn’t give a f*ck. I was like, ‘I’m just going to leave this here.’ He’s like, ‘I’ll move it,’ so I threw him the keys. I was like, ‘I’m gonna drive that Bentley.’
“We go in, we had our big meeting which was awesome. I had all the execs and the brass which was dope as f*ck. Dana [White] wasn’t there, but it was a dope a** meeting. We made it work. Told him I’d let him know about the fight a little later, and let me go consult with family. As soon as I said that, we were leaving and I was like, ‘Hey Hunter, let me drive your car.'”
According to Tony Ferguson, Hunter Campbell gave up the keys without issue. ‘El Cucuy’ describes driving the vehicle around “like it was F1.”
“It’s fun things like that that make this job a little bit different than others. I don’t know how football players and baseball players and how these other guys do it professionally, but I know they gotta enjoy the game and have some fun with it too.”
The Respect between Tony Ferguson and Nate Diaz. #UFC279 pic.twitter.com/J7vmeN5EtB
— MMA LockerRoom (@mma_lockerroom) September 11, 2022
Tony Ferguson Gives His Thoughts on Fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 279
Suffering his fifth straight loss inside the Octagon, Tony Ferguson spoke about his short-notice affair with Nate Diaz on Saturday night. While ‘El Cucuy’ felt good ahead of and during the bout, he immediately recognized the mistake of going for a takedown that led to Nate Diaz’s guillotine submission victory.
“Pretty good besides going in there and going for the takedown. Should have kept it standing. The preparation for two to three weeks for Li, we were really ready on that right-hander. The switch to southpaw was a little bit more interesting. You know, I’m used to getting hit on my left side and this time it was the right side from his left hand. Opening up with leg kicks, I was trying to break sh*t. Nothing personal against him, I was just like, ‘Let’s get boom!’ Take the shins.
“It was an interesting fight. The preparation for it was really short notice. I mean, he had the same amount of time, but I guarantee you, dude, he was preparing for that takedown with Chimaev and practicing his submission. I would be practicing my submissions left and right. So he had that in his tank already. I’m kicking myself for not keeping it standing for sure on that one.”
When asked bout the critics like Daniel Cormier who have called Ferguson a shell of his former self, ‘El Cucuy’ somewhat skirted around the question but took a shot at Nate Diaz in the process.
“Did you see Nate have to take breaks? You know, nothing against him and stuff, but I gave him his break so it was cool. It was a send-off fight. I’m not saying I took it easy on him and what we prepared for, but it’s a little bit more interesting when you’re preparing for a certain… Like a guy that you really don’t know. Nate’s cool. I have nothing against him. I’m not considering him a friend, but he’s cool. He’s a good fighter and I respect that.”
