Tony Ferguson said his call for health insurance at UFC 274’s pre-fight press conference was not his first such request to his promoter.
The ex-interim lightweight champion said he broached the issue because it fell by the wayside in a previous UFC meeting. It also led to an unexpected demand when a short-notice fight with Islam Makhachev at UFC 272 instead became a fight with Chandler at UFC 274.
“During that fight week [at UFC 274], I had a lot to say, because during the last year-and-a-half when I was off, I was down to take that Mackhachev fight, and the way that they had presented that was that I didn’t want the fight, or however they wanted to present it,” Ferguson said Monday on The MMA Hour. “But it got brought up in the meeting too, that we’ll look into [health] insurance, because I brought it up.
“I said, obviously, I want insurance. I understood the numbers, so they told me that we would get our premiums together and then we would see what it costs. This continued for the next few years. They had already heard me say that and I agreed.
“Well, I go a couple months later, I was ready to fight Michael Chandler in, I think it was January or February or something like that, and he wasn’t ready; his leg still probably wasn’t good. But when I got the contract for Chandler, there came a side note which said that they were going to extend my contract, and I was like, ‘For what?’ And they do a lot of these things, and so I questioned it. A closed mouth don’t get fed.”
The UFC did not immediately reply to a request for comment regarding Ferguson’s statement.
During a fiery media day appearance in support of UFC 274, Ferguson made his displeasure very evident when he unloaded on White and the UFC, comparing the executive to a drug dealer for not allowing fighters to pursue bigger paydays in boxing. Ferguson claimed he would have filed a lawsuit against the promotion because he lost the interim lightweight belt after he was hurt in an accident on the set of UFC broadcast partner FOX. He promised to “kick this Dana White boy’s ass” with a win over Chandler at UFC 274.
Part of the feelings Ferguson expressed at the media day stemmed from the way one UFC executive treated him when confronted about the contract extension.
“When it was up to me, I asked [UFC COO] Hunter [Campbell],, and he replied, “Oh s ***, That I can’t recall signing.” Ferguson added. “And I was like “Excuse me?” I replied, “Excuse me?” They wanted me to sign a contract to continue fighting for it. But they took it away because I didn’t understand the documents they signed.
” I was like: ‘You’re s ****** Me. It’s not like you remember me signing any document to remove me, even though I have been working for the company. Conor [McGregor] was inactive so he was retiring. And you stripped me of this. It’s not my intention to be too explicit. I want everything to go smoothly. I don’t want to say too much; I try to keep everything really good. Dana didn’t wear sunglasses, and this is his company?’
“It was just all the bad stuff that I felt were underlying and so I let them go. It was all out. It was a pissy thing to do. I’ve always done things for the company. I’ve always showed up. I’m not saying the only one, but just some of the things I’ve said, people haven’t taken me serious, because I’m just a messenger. At the beginning of the day, it’s not the first thing on my mind, but when I have to look after my family and I have to look after my well-being — they’re not, one, paying insurance, that’s a whole other story, and two, they’re not paying my bills.
” I show up to fight. But, we are contractors. That’s crazy. Although I understand the concept of unions, I am not going to discuss them. But I know what I fight for, and I fight for myself. It wasn’t my intention to speak for everyone in that room. I was talking for my family and myself. I have two kids, my wife wants to have another one.
” It was hard that first week. I talked to my wife, and she was like, ‘What happened, you used to smile a lot,’ and I started thinking, ‘You know what? You’re right.’ So during the week, when I said that, I said my piece, and the Dana White privilege thing, it wasn’t funny, because I’ve been through it. It’s all been there. It’s not [Michael Chandler’s] fault. But the company sometimes is weird, and there’s a lot of underlying things that people don’t see. They take for granted for what the UFC presents.”
Ferguson said while the incident “kind of pissed me off,” he stressed that both behind the scenes and in public, he has tried to temper his demands with the UFC’s business interests. He stated that he does not have any ill will towards UFC executives.
“They’re alright, they’ve got to look out for the bottom line,” Ferguson said. Ferguson said, “But they’re alright, they have to look after the bottom line,” and he hadn’t done so for some time .”
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