UFC 274: Tony Ferguson Says Dana White Nixed Boxing Match, Used Retaliation Tactics

Phoenix, AZ – Former UFC lightweight interim champion Tony Ferguson will have been out of the cage and out of the spotlight for just under a year when he returns this weekend. On Saturday he takes on Michael Chandler in the featured bout of UFC 274.

On Wednesday he took on Dana White and the UFC.

When Ferguson entered the media room for the customary pre-fight scrum he seemed in good spirits as he took his seat. He even gave reporters a friendly, “Sup f*ckers” with a smile.

Then Ferguson got real. When asked about his “Dana White privilege” comment that he had previous made about Chandler, “El Cucuy” got serious.

“I don’t think that sh*ts very funny. You do maybe. I don’t think it’s very funny. Everybody’s looking at it and they’re smiling, they’re laughing at it, but nobody is saying sh*t,” Ferguson said.

“So I’m the kid that’s up here with “Dana brown privilege” I guess or whatever the f*ck you want to call it.”

That tensed the room up a bit for the rest of Ferguson’s media scrum. He continued on talking about how he and other fighters have been treated by the UFC, but more specifically Dana White.

“I don’t think it’s very funny anymore, and neither do you guys. I don’t you guys should think it’s very funny. So I’m taking this weekend very f*cking seriously. I’ll kick this Dana Whiteboy’s ass,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson continued on saying it was nothing personal against Chandler, and then he set his sights on White. White had been doing the podcast rounds going on different ones throughout the weeks leading up to UFC 274. One thing he said that reached Ferguson was on fighter pay for boxers.

“Talking about how boxers are overpaid. I asked Dana to box. He said ‘F*ck no’. I’m like why? I want to go play baseball, I want to go do other pro sports. I’m an athlete. I grew up playing different sports at a very high level. I want to go do pro wrestling, I got Brock, Uncle Brock that’s right there watching me,” Ferguson said.

“I want to go do all these couple things, but then I have this guy right here acting like a f*cking drug dealer telling me I can’t go and do this shit. I’m tired of the retaliation tactics from the company,” Ferguson said.

He declined to go into it further only offering that he would elaborate after the fight, but he did continue on how he’s been treated.

“I’m waiting for insurance. I’ve been competing in this sport for a long time. I took a bad fall at Fox. They took my title from me. I don’t even have to go into the Miller-Ayala act when an agent’s not supposed to be competing in the same sport as you. Then I’m going to get stripped of my title because I took a bad fall on accident? I should have sued,” Ferguson said.

“But what I did was I felt good for my company. I wanted to be the man. I wanted to make sure that everybody knew that I f*cking could do this stuff without anybody else’s help. That’s a little bit of a chip on my shoulder to kind of keep coming here smiling and being used to be on a poster.”

Ferguson took a break from talking about how he was treated when asked about Dustin Poirier. “The Diamond” has previously stated that he believed he would get the winner of Ferguson and Chandler next.

“He’s full of shit. He said he wanted to fight me many times. I gave the opportunity to him and somebody gave him more money to be able to fight. Kid’s full of shit. Nothing against Porier or any of the other fighters, but I’m worried about Chandler,” said Ferguson.

“He likes to go toe-to-toe, he wants to fight in a box, he likes to get hit once in a while. It gets him riled up. He’s a good puzzle. I think he’s looking past me. I don’t talk to myself in the third person and all, he kind of does, so we’ve got to battle his ego first. Come past that ego he’s going to break.”

Ferguson has been in the UFC for a very long time, but he claimed to not know how many bouts were left on his contract.

“I’m not sure. They wanted to extend my contract after this one. Sent me like an extension on my contract. They signed it didn’t even know that they sent it to me. I was kind of like ‘Why are you guys making me feel like sh*t?’ I’ve always been for the company,” he said.

Regardless of the outcome of his featured bout on Saturday it’s safe to say Tony Ferguson has become the story of UFC 274. Should he win his fight, however, you can bet he will have a lot more to say in the coming weeks.

Tony Ferguson takes on Michael Chandler in the featured bout at UFC 274 on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out Ferguson’s full media day scrum above. More coverage can be found below.