Michael Johnson och Tony Ferguson mötte varandra första gången i maj 2012, då Johnson segrade via ett domslut. När Khabib Nurmagomedov inte längre kunde gå sin match mot Ferguson under UFC 209, erbjöd sig Johnson att ersätta.
Ferguson tackade då nej och ingen match blev av för honom efter detta. Johnson anser att man inte kan se Ferguson som topprankad om han tackar nej till en match en som tidigare segrat mot honom.
Tony’s decision is his decision. I myself wouldn’t have turned [the fight] down, especially coming from a guy that beat me already who was taking the fight on probably 10 hours notice, but that’s his decision. I guess he really didn’t have that much confidence in himself going into the fight with me. You can’t call a guy the number-one-contender if he won’t take a fight against a guy that’s already whooped him in the UFC before. Everyone’s getting their hype train around this guy, but that’s how the world works. It’s funny.
I’m not giving Tony his rematch. I tried giving him his chance twice and he turned it down.
I’d have to think about it.
