According to Dana White, Conor McGregor had some harsh words for top-ranked lightweight Tony Ferguson.
Many fans consider Tony Ferguson to be the unofficial No. 1 contender in the UFC lightweight rankings, but 155-pound champion Conor McGregor doesn't think 'El Cucuy' deserves a 'f—-ing dime'.
That's according to UFC president Dana White, who told Snoop Dogg on GGN News that 'The Notorious' sent him a text ripping into Ferguson after UFC 209.
Apparently, McGregor was disgusted by Ferguson's refusal to fight Michael Johnson on short notice after his original opponent, Khabib Nurmagomedov, pulled out of their co-headlining interim title bout due to a disastrous weight cut.
“After this shit went down with Tony and Khabib, Conor texts me and says, ‘I can’t believe you’re going to f—-ing pay that bum Tony Ferguson one dollar," White said on Monday, per Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania. "You shouldn’t pay him a f—-ing dime. He was there, made weight and you lined up a fight for him with Michael Johnson after Khabib fell out and didn’t make weight, and he turned it down. F—-ing bum.’"
White says it's that kind of attitude that makes working with McGregor such a pleasure, the fact that he is willing to step up on short notice to take on any opponent, as was the case against Chad Mendes at UFC 189 and Nate Diaz at UFC 196. The Irishman even agreed to fight Diaz at welterweight, despite being booked to fight Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title.
"That’s Conor’s mentality in that he should've taken that fight against Michael Johnson. That’s what Conor said to me and that’s one of the many things that I love about Conor McGregor. And he isn’t just talking, because I’ve stood in his living room, looking at him telling him that his opponent fell out and he doesn’t give a shit.”
Ferguson says he refused the fight because he was being offered less money, and the 33-year-old is now campaigning for a high-profile bout against Diaz. Ferguson is on a nine-fight win streak — the most consecutive wins in UFC lightweight history — and is clearly deserving of a title shot.
McGregor, on the other hand, is busy preparing for a boxing megafight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and claims to have signed his end of the deal. If McGregor returns to the UFC, the former two-division champ is likely to fight either Ferguson or Diaz.
