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There have been rumors circulating that the UFC is trying to book Michael Chandler vs Tony Ferguson next. The two have been going back and forth on Twitter for a long time.
Michael Chandler recently spoke about the fight on The MMA Hour. It looks like there are a few obstacles in the way of the UFC booking the fight next.
“I signed with the promotion in September,” Chandler told The MMA Hour. “Got offered the Oct. 24 card. Tony’s name was on that list. He declined. Then I made weight Oct. 24 and then three weeks later he said he wanted to fight me in December, which I pulled myself out of training camp, wasn’t ready to go back into a training camp and then he went all over social media and said that I turned down a fight, wouldn’t fight him and I was afraid of him. But once again, it was a short notice, Tony type of offer. It’s got a Tony shaped bow on top of the offer.”
The fight could have happened a few times but there were too many issues with the offer from Tony Ferguson. Michael Chandler wants to be smart with his UFC career.
“We’re in January so we’re eight to 10 weeks removed from the [Gaethje] fight,” Chandler continued. “It took me six weeks to recover from the last one to actually stop hobbling around and then I heard something last week that he wanted to fight me in February, which was about five weeks’ notice. Whenever a guy says ‘hey, I want to fight this guy but I want more money’ or ‘I want to fight this guy but it’s got to be this date.’ When you add these little caveats and asterisks, are you really asking for the fight or are you only doing it on your terms in a scenario where you know a guy’s not ready to fight? I would love to fight Tony but we’ve got to do it on a normal timeframe.”
Michael Chandler has no issues with Tony Ferguson and still hopes the UFC will find a way to book the fight. It would have to be with a normal timeframe though.
“Tony is Tony and I respect the guy,” Chandler said. “Love the way that he fights. Would love to share the Octagon with him but it’s got to be on a normal timeframe. Everybody knows what a normal timeframe is, you need eight to 10 weeks to train for a fight. I take this sport very seriously. I take these fights very seriously. So no, I’m not going to fight a guy on five weeks’ notice just saying yes to a fight eight or 10 weeks after a previous fight.”
