Tony Ferguson asks Dana White to let him headline UFC 256: 'The fans deserve this'
Tony Ferguson has taken to his official social media account to ask UFC President Dana White for the opportunity to headline UFC 256.
Ferguson asserted that he would like to headline the UFC 256 fight card and added that it was the fight that the fans deserved.
Tony Ferguson had his 12-fight winning streak snapped in 2020
Tony Ferguson was on an outstanding 12-fight UFC winning streak prior to his fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 in May 2020.
Ferguson’s previous loss came via unanimous decision to Michael Johnson back in May 2012, the defeat that triggered an eight-year run of victories.
That was until UFC 249. Ferguson faced short-notice replacement fighter Justin Gaethje – Gaethje had replaced Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event bout of UFC 249, since Nurmagomedov couldn’t travel to the United States of America from Russia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The bout was originally set to have Ferguson fight Khabib with the latter’s UFC lightweight title at stake, but since the champion couldn’t make it to the US, the UFC booked the Ferguson vs. Gaethje fight for the interim UFC lightweight title.
Ferguson entered the Gaethje fight as the favorite. However, despite catching the latter with a beautiful uppercut in round two of their fight, Ferguson eventually lost the fight via a fifth-round TKO.
The fight witnessed Ferguson take a considerable amount of damage courtesy of Gaethje’s excellent striking. It also marked the end of Ferguson’s legendary 12-fight UFC winning streak.
Tony Ferguson wants to headline UFC 256
Tony Ferguson recently took to Twitter to call out new UFC signee Michael Chandler. Chandler is a former Bellator lightweight champion and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bellator fighters of all time.
After signing with the UFC earlier this year, Chandler has consistently expressed his desire to face the top-ranking fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division.
In fact, Chandler had previously noted that he’d like to face Ferguson in what would be the former’s first UFC fight.
Ferguson responded to Chandler’s callout and he is willing to fight the Bellator MMA legend inside the UFC’s famed Octagon.
Furthermore, Ferguson has now put forth another tweet, featuring a video that comprises highlights from his past fights replete with a voiceover that features audio of him talking about wanting to fight again soon.
'El Cucuy' posted the following caption alongside the video:
“#UFC256 Main Event @danawhite You said 2020 has been sh***y for many. Let’s make it a little better again. Let’s give em’ what they want. The fans deserve this # PandemicGames TUF13 Champ CSO @ufc @seanshelby”
The UFC 256 fight card is set to transpire on December 12th, 2020, and features a UFC Bantamweight title fight between reigning champion Petr Yan and challenger Aljamain Sterling.
The event initially also featured a UFC welterweight title fight between champion Kamaru Usman and challenger Gilbert Burns, but Usman withdrew from the event due to injury issues.
Another doomed title fight that was set to take place at UFC 256 was a UFC women’s featherweight title bout between champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Megan Anderson. Unfortunately, that fight was called off after Nunes withdrew due to injury issues.
Both the UFC men’s welterweight and women’s featherweight title fights that were scheduled to take place at UFC 256 were subsequently canceled.
Which fighter do you think would emerge victorious in a fight between Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler? Sound off in the comments.