Tony Ferguson took a serious five-round beating at the hands of Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 last May. That TKO loss ended “El Cucuy’s” 12-fight win streak that began in 2013.
To add insult to injury, Ferguson says his insurance bill for the fight wasn’t immediately taken care of by the company. As he told Submission Radio in a recent interview, he had to take matters into his own hands.
“I just barely got an insurance bill paid for my fight over in Jacksonville,” Ferguson revealed. “I’m not even trying to bitch about it. And I sent my bill back and forth over and over and over again throughout the year.
“I’m bleeding everywhere else and getting my bones crushed and all this other shit and sitting in the hospital where my wife is crying her ass off. And we’re trying to figure out what the f—k, if I’m gonna have surgery or not. And my f—ng bill won’t get paid? No, we’ve got issues now.
“I did make a phone call to the highest one (in upper management). And it got handled quick. And that’s what I can count on, because they told me, like, ‘If you have a problem with us, anything like that, you’re our guy, you have to come to us.’
“I talked to a lot of middle men to handle shit in my life. And what I found out to be was that… What I got really good at was handling business on my own self. And learning the game.”
Ferguson’s been focusing on his boxing skills under the tutelage of famed trainer Freddie Roach. He says the training helped him rekindle his love for combat sports, but he’s also tempted to make a boxing run.
“Where we’re at right now is I’m hungry as f—k. And I haven’t had the love for the game in a minute,” he said. “And I’m gonna be real, I haven’t even sparred yet and I’m getting that f—ng hunger just being around there over at f—ng Wild Card.
“And even boxing is looking more and more tempting to me because I’ve got good coaches and I’ve got good trainers and I’ll probably make a shitload more doing that. Because with what I do and how much I get paid, it’s not, shit, nearly enough.”
Ferguson aims to bounce back from a two-fight skid as he prepares for Beneil Dariush at UFC 262 on May 15.
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