Michael Chandler wants a piece of Tony Ferguson, he says, but only if the timing is right. In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Chandler revealed why he turned down a proposed fight with Tony Ferguson.
In response to a Ferguson Tweet labelling Chandler his “b*tch” and accusing him of trying to “delay that ass-whoopin”, Michael Chandler revealed some details that poked holes in Tony’s story.
Why Michael Chandler Won’t Fight Tony Ferguson
Tony’s an interesting cat. We’re in January so we’re 8 to 10 weeks removed from the [Justin Gaethje] fight? It took me six weeks to recover from the last one to actually stop hobbling around and then I heard something last week that he wanted to fight me in February, which was about five weeks’ notice.
Whenever a guy says ‘hey, I want to fight this guy but I want more money’ or ‘I want to fight this guy but it’s got to be this date.’ ‘I want to fight this guy but it’s got to be at this weight.’ When you add these little caveats and asterisks, are you really asking for the fight or are you only doing it on your terms in a scenario where you know a guy’s not ready to fight?
I’m not ready to fight in February. It’s five weeks away. Yeah, there was some rumblings. He was tweeting and then him and Gregor [Gillespie] were tweeting.
Twitter’s a place where people talk. I would love to fight Tony but we’ve got to do it on a normal timeframe.” Timing, Chandler says, is everything, and Tony Ferguson is no stranger to ducking a fight if the timeline doesn’t work for him.
“I signed with the promotion, the UFC, in September [2019]. Got offered the October 24 card. Tony’s name was on that list. He declined.
Then I made weight October 24 and then three weeks later he said he wanted to fight me in December, which I pulled myself out of training camp, wasn’t ready to go back into a training camp and then he went all over social media and said that I turned down a fight, wouldn’t fight him and I was afraid of him.
But once again, it was a short notice, Tony type of offer. It’s got a Tony shaped bow on top of the offer.” What do you think of Tony and Chandler’s dance of delays? Will the pair eventually duke it out this year? Let us know in the comments.
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