Tony Ferguson voices frustration at Dana White: "Why do you treat me like s**t?"
Tony Ferguson is not happy with how everything has played out with the UFC lately. El Cucuy faced Justin Gaethje for the Interim Lightweight Championship at UFC 249 and was defeated - marking his first defeat in eight years.
However, Tony Ferguson's issues with the UFC and Dana White has been over pay. The former Interim Champion believes that he has constantly gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to money and has made his displeasure known.
Speaking to MMAJunkie, Tony Ferguson first vented about not getting paid what he's worth. After that, he was asked about Michael Chandler, who is a newcomer to the UFC. Stating that the fight against Chandler made no sense, Tony Ferguson then went on a rant:
“Chandler? Think about this: How many times are you going to put another (expletive) person in the (expletive) shuffle of the cards?” Ferguson asked. “Dana keeps shuffling me down the list. What? Because I’m (expletive) Mexican? What’s up Dana, you don’t like Mexicans? You don’t like brown people? I’m not going to call you a racist, but what the (expletive), man? What’d I do to you? Why do you treat me like (expletive)? My last name is Ferguson. I don’t want to get mad anymore. I don’t. I’m not going to. But that being said, I said my piece. I’m too busy working."
Tony Ferguson stated that the generation before his was also treated badly:
“A lot of these younger fighters, they don’t respect the fact (that) Chuck (Liddell) and Tito (Ortiz) and all those older guys – those are like my big brothers and my big uncles – they got treated like (expletive), too,” Ferguson said. “My age group got treated like (expletive) by Dana, too. Dana’s like, I’m going to be real: I don’t think he’s very religious, but he’s going to make his decisions and he’s going to be him."
Why has Tony Ferguson gotten the short end of the stick constantly?
When looking at Tony Ferguson's pay per fight and the spots that he has been in, it's clear that he has been underpaid and undervalued by the UFC. He has been a constant title contender, and perhaps it could be blamed on his previous management team.
While he has shifted to a new management team, we will have to wait and see if it has an effect on his next set of UFC contracts.