Tony Ferguson wants to fight Dustin Poirier.
Last week, it was officially confirmed that the big lightweight fight between the two top contenders would no longer take place due to Poirier not being happy with the financial offer from UFC officials. Following UFC Vegas 10, the UFC President addressed the nixed lightweight fight and he made it clear that talks between both sides were over (Transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting):
“No, we’re not even trying to salvage it,” White said at the UFC Vegas 10 post-fight press conference when asked about Poirier vs. Ferguson. We’re getting another fight. Yep [another fight for Tony Ferguson], it’ll happen.”
Ferguson hasn’t spoken since news broke about the match-up being scrapped from UFC 254; however, the former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion is the one trying to salvage the fight as Ferguson responded by asking White to simply pay “The Diamond” what’s he’s asking for:
White has yet to respond to Ferguson, but Poirier himself had no problem agreeing with his statement:
The issue of fighter pay has been a hot topic in 2020. Jorge Masvidal and Jon Jones are the biggest names to refuse to fight due to their unhappiness with the financial offers they received, though Masvidal eventually got what he wanted. Corey Anderson ended up leaving the company due to officials not wanting to negotiate a new contract.
Ferguson may end up sitting out of UFC 254 as his match-up against Poirier was a money fight, though the co-main event between the two athletes wasn’t the main attraction as Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje is set to headline the show.