Al Iaquinta returned to action after a long layoff to defeat Diego Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 108. Following his victory, the fighter went on a tirade against the UFC and many of the promotion’s fighters, with one of them being Tony Ferguson.
Upon hearing of the call out from Iaquinta, the top ranked lightweight doesn’t want to take the fight because he’s not looking for an easy win.
“I don’t know, maybe he talked to the guys over at the UFC retreat,” Ferguson said on The MMA Hour. “He’s trying to promote himself, trying to make it big. You’ve never heard this dude, not one time, call my name out. I’ve never called his name out. So obviously somebody got to him. So regardless, if he wants to fight, I’m not going to back down from a fight, but I already offered somebody a fight (Nate Diaz) and I’m not trying to go backwards. I’m moving forwards. I’m a champ. I’m a superstar. And I move like a superstar in that Octagon, and I expect somebody to move like that when they signed that dotted line with me. Don’t give me an easy fight. I want somebody that’s worth it, that’s put in their time and put in the amount of effort. It’s not just about knockouts, son. This is mixed martial arts. It’s about finishing people. It’s about putting in that time, putting in all five rounds.”
Ferguson has been calling out a lot of fighters himself lately, with the most notable being Nate Diaz.
The lightweight does have one request he wants Iaquinta to grant him, which is the next time he calls him out on Twitter, to at least tag him in the post.
“I had nothing but respect for Al for a long time, and I’m not really going to disregard it, but when he says ‘f*ck Ferguson’ or something like that, at least have the balls to tag me in it,” Ferguson said. “If you’re going to f*cking say something like that, tag me in that b*tch. Point and clear, if you can’t say something to my face, at least tag me in the motherf*cker and I don’t want to hear it from other people.”
Neither fighter has an opponent booked at the moment, while Ferguson hasn’t stepped in the Octagon since UFC Fight Night 98.
