Tony Ferguson suggests Michael Chandler has “already accepted another fight”

UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson has revealed that he’s been told Michael Chandler has accepted another fight.

The animosity between these two elite fighters has been steadily growing as the weeks and months have gone on with Ferguson campaigning to fight Chandler before the end of the year. The former Bellator star, however, wants to wait it out and serve as the co-main event on the proposed Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier card in January.

However, according to Ferguson, another spanner has been thrown into the works.

UFC has said you have already accepted Another Fight ese! So @MikeChandlerMMA stop crying to @espnmma about fighting me. You want to compete against me I’ll be in Vegas Dec 12. Accept or we move on. -Champ Shit Only™️ kid ⚔️🕶 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 F’kn #AmateurHour # BeGon’Thot pic.twitter.com/Ua4p4moi8W

— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) November 18, 2020

“UFC has said you have already accepted Another Fight ese,” Ferguson wrote. “So @MikeChandlerMMA stop crying to @espnmma about fighting me. You want to compete against me I’ll be in Vegas Dec 12. Accept or we move on. -Champ Shit Only kid. F’kn #AmateurHour #BeGon’Thot”.

Ferguson is referring to Chandler’s recent interview with ESPN in which he seemed to indicate that it was always known he wouldn’t be able to fight in December.

“There is a 0% chance I’ll fight Tony Ferguson in December,” Chandler told ESPN. “And I 100% know he knew that, because the UFC already told him that, and I’ve already said I’ll see him in January.

“Now that we have Conor [McGregor] fighting Dustin [Poirier] — it looks like that fight will get booked on Jan. 23 — they need a co-main event. Why wouldn’t it be Chandler vs. Ferguson?”

“The UFC didn’t offer me the fight in December, because they know I’m on a timeline now,” Chandler said. “I just made weight in October. Everybody knows I’m an active fighter and I’m constantly training, but I needed just four weeks off. Essentially, Tony is campaigning for us to fight in 3.5 weeks.

“Tony, you had the opportunity to fight me in October and you said no. You didn’t even bring up fighting in December until it was way past the 11th hour. Let’s be realistic and sign up for Jan. 23,” he continued. “If you think you still have what it takes to fight for a title, fight me on Jan. 23. Why not take that opportunity, instead of muddying the water with this silly stuff?”