UFC 262: Tony Ferguson takes shot at Michael Chandler: ‘You got Dana White privilege’

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Sparks flew at the UFC 262 press conference when the stars of the main card arrived on stage to field questions from the media ahead of fight night in Houston, Texas. But the best exchange of the night came between two fighters who are in action in separate matchups.

Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson is set for action in the night’s co-main event, where he’ll take on fellow contender Beneil Dariush.

And while Ferguson spoke about his own bout, a lot of his attention was on the fight above his on the card.

That’s because the vacant UFC lightweight title is up for grabs, as Brazil’s Charles Oliveira and America’s Michael Chandler go head to head for the undisputed title.

It’s a championship that Ferguson, through injuries and awful luck, never had the opportunity to fight for, despite being arguably the top lightweight contender over the last few years.

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That fact is clearly a bone of contention with “El Cucuy,” who took shots at one half of the night’s main event, suggesting Chandler wasn’t deserving of his shot at the gold.

The UFC were close to booking Ferguson and Chandler in a matchup late last year, but that fight booking never came to fruition, and the former interim champion took aim at Chandler to let him know exactly what he thought about his place in Saturday night’s main event.

“You f****** dodged me too, Chandler,” Ferguson interjected. “You’re a b****. You said no, man. “You got this s*** handed to you. You got Dana White privilege.”

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Ferguson’s snappy comment drew laughs from the room, including from UFC president White himself, who was caught off-guard by the jibe.

But Ferguson wasn’t finished, as he said that the powers that be were determined to keep him away from the title.

“Check this s** out: Dana was right. Timing is everything,” he continued.

“It wasn’t meant for me to have the title.

“I would’ve given everybody the chance. These guys are going to try to keep the title away as much as they can. 

“I’m Mexican. It doesn’t matter if you coloured up here or not, but I’m made with Native American parts, too. Let’s go.”

Ferguson is looking to bounce back from the first back-to-back losses of his career.

The former winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” had been on a 12-fight winning streak, but that form came to an end when he was stopped by Justin Gaethje in their interim UFC lightweight title bout at UFC 249 last May.

He then lost again at UFC 256 in December when he was outpointed by Oliveira, who takes on Chandler on Saturday night for the vacant undisputed title.

But, despite his first major career blip, Ferguson said he’s ready to come back firing on all cylinders in 2021.

“The funny thing is, God never puts enough on our plate that we can’t handle,” Ferguson said. 

“Last year I put so much on my damn plate that he fixed me up for this year, and 2021 is my damn b****.”

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