Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson
The long-anticipated fight between Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler finally has a date
It was at the UFC 262 press conference that the competitive rivalry between Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler first unfolded. Tony Ferguson stole the show with his famous ‘Dana White privilege’ tag referring to Chandler, which left everyone including the UFC president in splits.
After months of going back and forth on social media, the UFC has finally pegged down the fight and made it official. The news was first brought to light by Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso on Twitter. According to Barrasso, the bout has been added to UFC 274 and will be a three-round bout. The fight is expected to be on a card that is headlined by Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje.
It is fascinating how all four fighters have either fought each other or share the same opponents. This makes for an entertaining press conference and build-up to fight week. Tony confirmed the news through his Twitter handle with the caption –
‘UFC 274 Ticket hype/sales your welcome-Champ 🕶 -CSO- 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 # 📈 # HODLMF’s 🥇‘
Even through his losing streak, Tony remains a huge crowd-favourite, and Chandler’s last fight against Gaethje was voted the best fight of 2021. Both fighters make for must-watch television, and a fight against Chandler can prove as the right motivation for Tony at this stage of his career.
Tony Ferguson continues to take digs at former UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, even though the latter has since retired from the sport
Tony Ferguson hasn’t relinquished the idea of a dream match-up against Khabib Nurmagomedov, now that the former lightweight champion has officially retired.
The pair were booked to face each other five times, most recently at UFC 249, however, Khabib had to pull out due to the ongoing pandemic. The fight has therefore been ill-famed as the most cursed fight ever, and fans lost out on one of the most anticipated clashes in UFC history.
Justin Gaethje, who stepped in as a replacement for Khabib, demolished Ferguson, and went on to face Khabib for the undisputed title. Khabib dominated Gaethje at UFC 254, finishing him inside two rounds, and retaining the UFC lightweight championship. He retired after that fight to the surprise of everyone.
Tony has since then been on a losing skid, but never fails to poke fun at how Khabib famously pulled out of their UFC 209 bout, failing to make weight. Recently he posted a video of them for the face-off and made fun of Khabib’s conditioning.
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