In only two weeks from this Saturday at UFC 238, Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson will make his long-awaited UFC return hen he squares off with Donald “Cowboy Cerrone in what the UFC itself is calling the “People’s Main Event.” Don’t expect any pushback from the MMA community on that labeling, but there was some from the Tony Ferguson camp during the contract negotiations to finalize the fight if you accept Donald Cerrone’s account on how the negotiations transpired and the lull between offer and signing that frustrated the usually even-tempered slugger:
“There wasn’t really any convincing that had to go on (for me),” Cerrone told MMA Junkie. “More or less the UFC called me and asked me if I wanted to fight and I said yes, then it took two or three days for Tony to agree to the fight, which really pissed me off because the UFC called me and offered to me and left me in his limbo.
“I keep calling like, ‘Dana (White), I’m on (expletive) vacation. Can I drink beer and eat guacamole, or do you want me to go (expletive) run on the beach? Because this in-between, I don’t know what’s going on, is (expletive) bull(expletive).’ So Tony took long figuring it out.”
As we know, the fight got done by the grace of the MMA gods, as we know wait for them to finalize the deal on June 8th in the United Center. This fight will feature Tony Ferguson putting his astonishing 11-fight win streak on the line, and Donald Cerrone believes that fact plus the risk-to-reward ratio for Ferguson may have been what delayed this bout’s finalization:
“I don’t think he wanted to have to fight again other than a title fight,” Cerrone said. “I think he believes he deserves a shot, so for him fighting someone like me is super dangerous. Why would he want to put himself at risk of (losing) a title shot? Especially fighting a (expletive) killer. But I don’t give a (expletive). That’s the difference between me. I’ll fight anybody. So I’ve got to beat them all anyway.”
But Donald Cerrone won’t be fighting just “anybody.” He’ll be fighting one of the winnigest fighters in UFC history. That’s no sweat for this cowboy though, as when it comes to being on the “winningest fighters list,” Donald Cerrone is already the champion heading into this potential #1-contender bout.
What do you make of the Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone fight? Is it the right fight for all parties?
