Fergie Capped By ‘Iron’ Mike

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson was back in the headlines yesterday after his slightly-erratic interview with ESPN. “El Cucuy” was attempting to shed some light on his decision to withdraw from negations for an Oct. 24 return, where the promotion offered him a shot at ex-Bellator MMA titleholder Michael Chandler.

“Now you’re going to bring in a new dude who I have no clue who this dude is,” Ferguson told Ariel Helwani. “From a marketing standpoint, dude has less than 100k on Twitter. You’re going to try him more notoriety by throwing him against me and throwing him on the Khabib card. I get it. But don’t pay him more than us. He has zero time in the UFC.”

For those fans unfamiliar with Chandler, who is responsible for some of the greatest lightweight fights of all time in any promotion, “Iron” is not the type of combatant to roll over and play dead or simply take the high road every time a rival drags his name into a dispute, evidenced by this tweet.

Ferguson is known for capitalizing the first letter of every word on Twitter.

UFC President Dana White claimed Ferguson “went quiet” during negotiations but “El Cucuy” insists that wasn’t the case, he simply sent White to voicemail every time he called (seriously). Regardless, Chandler will still head to Abu Dhabi and serve as back up for the UFC 254 title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.

For more on that story click here.