Tony Ferguson is getting royally screwed over because of a few cables that were lying around.
When Brett Okamoto asked Dana White what would become of Tony Ferguson’s interim belt on April 7, the UFC president didn’t hesitate with his response.
At this point, he had already confirmed that the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Max Holloway would win the undisputed belt. Although he didn’t say it explicitly, this implied that Conor McGregor, who has not fought in MMA for over 500 days, would be stripped as soon as the fight commences.
As for that pesky interim strap which belongs to the man who set a divisional record of 10 consecutive wins to claim it, White made it pretty damn clear. “That goes away.”
Mystic John #UFC223 https://t.co/lo3xGqXLkB
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 2, 2018
Two strips meal
During an appearance on the MMA Hour, ‘El Cucuy’ confirmed the reports were true. He blew out his knee tripping over cables at a UFC media event. He found out the fate of his champion status the same way everyone else did. The news, understandably, caught him off guard.
“Man… my team and I haven’t spoken with the UFC yet about what’s next, but I saw it in an interview. That shocked me. That hurt me even more for something I couldn’t control with this injury.”
Ferguson believes this is inconsistency on the UFC’s part. He pointed to the case of Robert Whittaker. After Whittaker won the interim strap in June 2017, the UFC went ahead with Georges St-Pierre vs Michael Bisping for the undisputed title in December. Whittaker was allowed to keep his belt despite another title fight going ahead in his division.
“The UFC hasn’t said anything to me about my title going away and I don’t think it (should) go away. They shouldn’t strip a champion due to a freak injury that happened during a UFC obligated media event. Seriously, there is a precedent of fighting for a ‘real’ title and keeping an ‘interim’ title intact. They just did that with Robert Whittaker last year.”
A new king will rise #UFC223 https://t.co/kTUWGrgXBs
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 2, 2018
Livelihood
Ferguson’s jiu-jitsu coach Eddie Bravo shed more light on the financial cost of the UFC’s decision on the Joe Rogan Experience.
“This was going to be by far the biggest payday ever for him. He was making some good money because of the belt. So if you strip him, his next fight he doesn’t have that belt anymore to get money. If you don’t have a belt, hell yeah (you get significantly less money).”
“If you’re going to negotiate for a fight and you have a belt, you have way more power than if you don’t have a belt. So by stripping him of the belt, his next fight when he heals up and comes back, it’s going to cost him. It’s not fair because Robert Whittaker didn’t get stripped of his interim belt. Max Holloway and Khabib should just fight a main event fight. It doesn’t have to be for a belt, because that’s going to fuck Tony.”
There’s a reason why fighters suddenly become more risk-averse once they reach the summit. That coveted golden strap is lucrative – be it interim or undisputed.
