Tony Ferguson received bad news on the eve of weigh-ins when it was revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov had been transported to a local hospital after difficulties from his weight cut. Ferguson arrived at the weigh ins ready to fight if the UFC found a suitable replacement after it was revealed Khabib had, in fact, pulled out.
Ferguson cut weight. Ferguson showed up. Ferguson did not receive his show money.
Instead, he got a wire from the UFC that was essentially a “slap to the face”. Ferguson broke down the situation to MMA Junkie:
“It was like a slap to the face. My training expenses were a lot larger than any other fight I’ve ever done because this was supposed to be the biggest fight of my career. So now I’m sitting here, and it’s like, what is my worth to the UFC? Like, do I not fight enough? Do I not bleed enough for them? It’s going through my head right now, because I didn’t lose.”
“I did everything in my power that I could to show up on that scale, and that’s what I thought we were going to do. That’s why you call it show money. And to every fan that’s out there in the world, (UFC President) Dana (White), he said they cut me out a check, and I didn’t get a check, and then this morning I got my wire, and I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘What the frick, man?’ I’m like, ‘Seriously?’”
