Den före detta interimmästaren i lättvikt, Tony Ferguson, skadade sig tidigare i år inför sin match mot den oslagne Khabib Nurmagomedov. Skadan uppkom då Ferguson ska ha snubblat över kablar under en mediadag inför matchen. Nurmagomedov fick istället möta Al Iaquinta. Efter att ha besegrat Iaquinta via ett dominant domslut blev Nurmagomedov UFCs nya lättviktsmästare, efter matchen bekräftade även Dana White att Ferguson inte längre var UFCs interimmästare i lättvikt. I en intervju med ESPN berättar Ferguson att han inte anser att UFC har gjort rätt beslut genom att ta bort hans interimtitel.
The UFC has indicated my title is gone and Khabib is the only champion at 155 pounds, but the UFC hasn’t mentioned anything official to my management. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still the true 155-pound champion. I never lost my belt. I thought Al Iaquinta did a great job at UFC 223, but Khabib is going to say he won the Super Bowl after he faced the third string? No way, dude. So many people hold him up on a high horse, but I see his flaws. I wasn’t impressed with anything he did. I think the UFC is going to do what they want to do, like any other time. But it’s disrespectful to me to strip my title. I should still be the interim champion. In fact, I should be the champion and Khabib should be the interim champion.
Den nuvarande mästaren, Nurmagomedov, har tidigare sagt att han räknar med att göra sitt försvar av bältet senare i år. Det är i nuläget inte helt klart vem Nurmagomedov kommer att försvara bältet mot men det har framförallt spekulerats om att det kan bli antingen Ferguson eller den före detta mästaren Conor McGregor. I intervjun berättade Ferguson även vad han anser om den potentiella matchen mellan Nurmagomedov och McGregor.
That’s a big middle finger to ’T-Ferg’ right there — that’s a kick to the groin if they do that. At the end of the day, does the UFC really like it’s fighters? I’m one of their toughest fighters. Don’t kick me when I’m down. I missed out on pay-per-view points, my purse, a big payday; a lot of things behind the scenes. They have to either give me my title back or make sure I’m fighting under that same contract. I’ve earned that.
Fergusons agent, Audie Attar, gav även sin syn på saken och berättade att han håller med Ferguson om att han aldrig borde ha blivit av med sin titel.
Tony was set to make a significant purse for that fight — the highest on the card — as well as a share of pay-per-view revenues. As Tony has stated himself, he missed out on millions of dollars due to this injury, which was devastating for him and his family. To the best of our knowledge, there has never been a scenario where the UFC stripped a champion of his title due to a short-term injury. Ever. Let alone one sustained the week before he was scheduled to defend his belt, during a work appearance. UFC’s own employees were there to witness and hear the ’pop’ when Tony’s knee gave out. Our position is Tony is still the champion and therefore required to defend that belt. And further, is contractually entitled to be compensated as the champion for his next fight and all fights thereafter until someone defeats him. We trust this situation will be handled professionally.
Fergusons senaste match var under UFC 216 då han besegrade Kevin Lee via submission i tredje ronden.
