Dana White: Tony Ferguson is officially off UFC 254 card
After his proposed fight with Dustin Poirier fell apart, Tony Ferguson won’t be fighting on the UFC 254 card at all.
The UFC’s lightweight division has been the center of attention this week. The promotion was looking to book a huge co-main event for UFC 254 under the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje title fight, but it didn’t happen. Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier wanted to fight each other. But Poirier wanted to get fairly compensated, and the UFC balked at paying one of their most reliable and exciting fighters, despite even Ferguson himself advocating for Poirier.
So, Ferguson was left without a fight. UFC president Dana White then said they were looking at a replacement opponent to keep El Cucuy on the UFC 254 card. But today, when speaking to Aaron Bronsteter of TSN, he confirmed that Ferguson won’t be on the card at all.
Dana White on the signing of Michael Chandler and why Tony Ferguson will not be competing at UFC 254 pic.twitter.com/rBMxwDQCMO
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 17, 2020
“No. No, those guys aren’t fighting,” he said it regards to Poirier vs. Ferguson.
When asked about a replacement fighter to meet Ferguson, White sounded a bit frustrated, and leaned into the camera to make his last point very clear:
“They went quiet on us, you know. We couldn’t get a fight done!”
The strangest part of this is actually mentioned by White in the first half of the video above. As you probably know by now, the UFC has officially signed former three-time Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler, and he will serve as the backup for the Khabib vs. Gaethje bout. So if one of them falls out, Chandler steps in. That’s all fine and dandy, but the obvious question is - why not just book Chandler vs. Ferguson, and pull Chandler if something happens to the main event?
It’s the UFC though. Logic rarely prevails. UFC 254 goes down on October 25th on Fight Island.