Tony Ferguson Explains Why He’s Not Fighting At UFC 254

Tony Ferguson has opened up about why he is no longer scheduled to compete at UFC 254 later this month.

Ferguson was due to make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon on October 24 opposite fellow fan favourite Dustin Poirier. ‘The Diamond’ was unable to come to financial terms with the UFC and withdrew from the fight.

UFC president Dana White later said Ferguson would remain on the card against a different opponent and that didn’t sit well with ‘El Cuccy’ who told Ariel Helwani that was one of the reasons he withdrew from the card.

“Well I’m going to be real,” Ferguson said. “I don’t know what their plans where before or after, but I was already ready. I was already counting on it. I mean seriously just planning around (it). I’m not much of a planner but I was already going ahead with it. But, Dana wanted to speak for me. He wanted to go out there and be like ‘yeah, Tony’s going to take this fight’. Bro, we’re not friends. I never said we were friends. It’s just business, right?

“Seriously man I’m a contractor. I do my thing. I love you fam, I love the UFC and things like that but I’m not just a piece of meat out there. It’s not about knowing your value and everything else like that. I’m ready to step up to the plate. Dustin was there, you know what I mean? Dustin, Abu Dhabi. The UFC kept delaying telling us the fight was confirmed. But it was like the minute they asked I was switching lanes from Dustin to the Chandler thing.

Ferguson was unhappy with the prospect of fighting former Bellator lightweight champion Chandler who lacks the profile of Poirier but is apparently earning more money than the UFC veterans, he said.

“Now you’re going to bring in a new dude who I have no f*cking clue who (he) is. The dude has less than 100k on Twitter and you’re trying to get him more notoriety by throwing him against me and throwing him on the Khabib card. I get that but don’t pay the f*ck more than us. He has zero time in the UFC. I don’t know about roids and all that stuff. I don’t get into that kinda shit with everybody.”

“F*ck you,” Ferguson continued. “Pay me. Instead of this f*cking clown. Chandler, like I said I’ve got nothing against you and Dustin I’ve got nothing against you but I ain’t trying to help nobody anymore.”

Who do you think Tony Ferguson should fight next?