“Tired of the company’s retaliation tactics” an emotional Tony Ferguson lashes out at the UFC and Dana White
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Tony Ferguson
Tony Ferguson is set to make his return and turn around his losing skid against Michael Chandler at UFC 274. At media day for the PPV, Tony took the time to interact with reporters and display a side that the fighter says he had kept repressed for a long time. Tony talked about his struggles with the UFC and how he feels that the company intentionally tries to make his career harder for him.
The mood of the media scrimmage was very light until John Morgan asked, “You think it’s exciting to fight a guy with Dana White privilege?”(a moniker Ferguson came up with referring to Chandler’s preferential treatment by the boss) to which Tony replied, “I don’t think that sh*ts very funny.” He elaborated further that he wanted people to talk about it and ask questions about the reason he came up with the nickname but instead everyone giggles and laughs to ignore the deeper question.
After this exchange, the tone for the rest of the interview was set. When asked if the fight against Chandler was personal, Tony replied “Nothing personal against chandler, I’m just tired by the retaliation tactics of the company” Tony also aluded to the fact that he wasn’t the only fighter who was unhappy with the company and that they(media) should ask the fighters about it.
Tony Ferguson believes fighters should be given insurance instead of cryptocurrencies
Tony went on to discuss his days at the TUF House and how in spite of having won the entire show by “knocking everybody out” at Welterweight, Tony wasn’t allowed to go back to the division instead, being asked by the UFC to cut down into the lightweight division. “They made me feel like I’m inadequate to go up to 170 again, they made me feel I could not do that,” said Tony about his early days at the UFC.
When asked how he feels about Chandler and the fans looking past him, Tony said, “I don’t owe anybody anything except going out there and doing my best, come Saturday night my hand will be raised.” Tony also expressed his displeasure at Dana White’s comments on the Pivot Podcast regarding boxers being overpaid. “I think we guys are underpaid,” said Tony explaining how he was denied a chance to box, play baseball or take a shot at pro-wrestling by Dana White referring to White as “a drug dealer” telling him what to do.
Tony also expressed his interest in fighters getting insurance instead of being paid in cryptocurrencies. “I’ve been competing in this sport for a long time, I took a bad fall at Fox, they took my title from me,” said Tony after complaining about the ludicrous system of Show/Win money. The interview was the first time we saw Ferguson be critical of the company
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