Jake Paul has praised Tony Ferguson for speaking up about UFC fighter pay after he compared Dana White to a "drug dealer".
Ferguson looks to rebound from a three-fight losing skid this Saturday at UFC 274 when he faces Michael Chandler. 'El Cucuy' is known for being of the UFC's most eccentric characters and he vented his frustration at White for not allowing him to compete in other sports.
Whilst under contract with the UFC, fighters are unable to compete in other organisations. Fighter pay in the promotion has been a heavily debated topic in the past few years and Paul showed his support for Ferguson after he publicly criticised White.
"Don’t listen to me, listen to a UFC fighter, Tony Ferguson, who has the courage to speak up. Dana White is a billionaire while fighters are itching and clawing to make ends meet. Dana White the drug dealer.”
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Ferguson claims that when he asked White if he could compete in a boxing match, he was brutally shut down by the UFC boss. "I asked Dana to box. He said, ‘F*** no.’ I’m like, ‘Why? I want to go play baseball. I want to go do other pro sports. I’m an athlete. I grew up playing different sports at a high level," Ferguson said.
"I want to go do all these couple things but then I have this guy right here acting like a f****ng drug dealer telling me I can’t go and do this s***. I want to go make more money for my family.
“You make your money by showing up, winning and having good performances. Right now, we’re getting paid crypto, I guess, huh? They’re following everybody’s suit. They’re waiting for everybody to speak up. They’re waiting for everything else like that.”
Luck hasn't gone Ferguson's way in recent years. Not only is he on a losing streak, but in 2018 he was stripped of his interim title after a freak accident forced him to withdraw from a title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
To make matters worse, Ferguson said he severely injured his leg in his last fight against Beneil Dariush. After being out of action for almost a year, he was angered that the UFC didn’t help him out for his travel home, something he claims the promotion did for when Chris Weidman broke his leg last April.
“Chris Weidman got a personal flight back,” Ferguson said. “I couldn’t f***ing walk. I couldn’t do the same s***. So I’m not sure if the corporate is talking about that. There [are] some questions to be raised on how they treat their athletes, that’s for sure.”
