The ‘Maverick’ of the welterweight division couldn’t do much but laugh at requests for him to purposefully lose his UFC Abu Dhabi fight so that ‘El Cucuy’ could bow out with a win.
Whilst MMA fans can look forward to two fascinating matchups in the main and co-main events of UFC Abu Dhabi this weekend, the ‘people’s main event’ will be the one with the most eyeballs as Tony Ferguson looks to wrap up his UFC career with a win against Michael Chiesa.
Michael Chiesa laughs off fans asking him to ‘throw’ UFC Abu Dhabi fight
Speaking to the media ahead of his main card clash against ‘El Cucuy’, veteran Michael Chiesa said that he’s preparing for the best possible version of Tony Ferguson – despite having received a slew of messages from fans asking him to lose the bout on purpose.
“I’m training for the dangerous Tony Ferguson, the one that we all knew and the one that we all love. I get all these messages from people like ‘Please just throw the fight with Tony Ferguson’ and I’m like ‘Why the hell- what a terrible thing to message me, you know.”
“I’m training for a dangerous Tony Ferguson and if this is really his last fight then I imagine he’s going to pull out all the stops – so I do hope I get the best version of him.”
Heading into UFC Abu Dhabi, aka UFC on ABC 7, the ‘Maverick’ of the welterweight division is staring down the barrel of a potential four-fight losing streak.
What’s of interest here is that two of those losses have come in the very first round and have been submission losses via D’Arce choke – Tony Ferguson himself has three UFC wins via D’Arce choke, albeit the last of which came in 2016 against Lando Vannata.
Yet even with the dramatic downfall that we’ve witnessed from Ferguson over the past few years, there’s still that sneaking suspicion that ‘El Cucuy’ could roll back the clock to end his UFC career with an enormous win.
And Chiesa isn’t going to take that chance by overlooking the former champion: “I want the version of him I was supposed to fight eight years ago.”
Chiesa says he has ‘unfinished business’ with Ferguson after 2016 withdrawal
Chiesa and Ferguson were originally meant to face each other all the way back in 2016, with ‘Maverick’ being forced to withdraw from their co-main event clash due to a nasty back injury – Ferguson went on to submit Vannata as previously described.
Despite the UFC opting not to rebook that fight for a later date, Chiesa still believes that it’s left some “unfinished business” between the two, as he explained to the UFC News team earlier in the week.
“It’s like unfinished business. While there’s no beef between us, I don’t know how he feels about me, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the guy… I asked to fight Tony Ferguson after I fought Beneil Dariush. He was the boogeyman, no one wanted to fight him.
“I was willing to throw my name in the hat. I asked for Tony Ferguson, I asked for a main event, and they gave it to me. That was when I had a really bad back injury that put me out for a while.”
Ferguson’s seven-fight losing streak has been a major part of the discussion heading into UFC Abu Dhabi this weekend, although Chiesa also noted that reading too much into recent form is an easy way to get hoodwinked into a false sense of security.
“I just don’t look at the 0-7 run. I’d be a fool to do that. I’ve trained for Tony Ferguson before; we were supposed to fight in 2016. When I was supposed to fight him in 2016, that was amidst the crazy run that he was on, so that’s been the Tony I’ve been training for.
“Not to mention, I’m 0-3 in my last three fights, so I know what it’s like to be in that position… I’m kind of in the same boat as he is… I’ve corrected the things that needed to be corrected. Mentally, physically, everything is on point. All sides point to me having a stellar performance.”
Fans can look forward to what should be a fascinating fight on the main card of UFC Abu Dhabi this weekend, with Chiesa signing off by teasing: “TUF champ vs TUF champ, let’s find out who’s the toughest.”