Much to Tony Ferguson’s chagrin, the former UFC interim lightweight champion’s private life became very public when reports of a restraining order against him filed by his wife was disseminated throughout the MMA news media. The details disclosed from the file caused alarm for Ferguson’s mental state, but he is just thankful to have been able to get through this rough time for his family and be able to return to action this Saturday at UFC 238 against Donald Cerrone. He’s even thankful to those who publicized his hardship (Transcript via MMA Fighting):
“Faith, family, friends, I want to say thank you to the media, I know I’ve been a bit of an asshole back in the day, I’m still an asshole, but we’re here to do business,” Ferguson said during a media scrum on Wednesday. “(Donald Cerrone and I) saved this card. We heard that they needed a superhero, so I’m here right now.”
Pleasantries aside, Tony Ferguson can’t help but feel a little violated on behalf of his family for his private home life being made so public, even though he had been exposed to a gauntlet of surveillance during his run on the 13th season of The Ultimate Fighter.
“I was inside an Ultimate Fighter house when I had hundreds of cameras on me, I had zero f*cking privacy already,” Ferguson said. “I think more than anything else I feel for my wife because of what she had to go through, so f*ck TMZ. F*ck them, I don’t even have anything nice to say to them.”
Naturally, the president of UFC, Dana White, had to address Tony Ferguson’s mental health when asked about Ferguson’s status as a UFC fighter. White insisted that Ferguson undergo a thorough evaluation before being booked again, and now Ferguson has an opinion of his own to share about White’s mental health in return:
“I think he needs to be evaluated,” Ferguson said of White. “We need to check his head, I don’t know how many interim title fights he can try to make me f*ckin’ fight. Straight up, I did everything I needed to do to get back to where I’m at. I’m happy to be here. This ain’t no 30 for 30. This ain’t my time for that shit. I’m outrunning the 20 -year-olds and I’m out-sprinting the other guys, and as long as I keep doing that shit, don’t feel bad. Don’t ask those dumb questions and let’s keep f*cking moving forward, baby.”
What are your thoughts on Tony Ferguson’s response to Dana White’s comments?
