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Ariel Helwani was heartbroken to see Tony Ferguson's recent outburst at the UFC 274 media day. According to Helwani, there's no other way one can possibly react after seeing Ferguson's frustration despite his immense contribution to the sport.
What further perturbs Helwani is the fact that 'El Cucuy' is no exception in terms of fighters being mistreated by the UFC. The sports leading journalist said on The MMA Hour:
"When you start to hear of more stories, it's heartbreaking. And I don't know how you can feel any other way. I don't know how you can ignore that when you see a guy like Tony Ferguson who's given so much to the sport, who's been dealt a bad hand a few times over the years and that's being kind, feel like that towards the tail end of his run, it's not the way it should be. And it's becoming a lot more of the norm than it should be. It's not an anomaly, he's not an anomaly and that bums me out."
Helwani also lashed out at UFC president Dana White for claiming boxers are overpaid. The 39-year old further said:
"When you hear the quote-unquote best promoter in the game speaking like, 'Hey, fighters in boxing, boxers are overpaid.' Overpaid! If you are a UFC fighter, how would that make you feel?"
Watch Helwani's reaction to Ferguson's recent outburst below:
Tony Ferguson claims Dana White shut down his boxing aspirations
Tony Ferguson is scheduled to fight Michael Chandler in the co-main event at UFC 274 on Saturday. After only a few media appearances over the past year, 'El Cucuy' had a lot to vent about at UFC 274 media day.
Ferguson continued to speak about the UFC's mistreatment of fighters, sometimes even when the questions were not very relevant to the topic. The former interim lightweight champion also revealed that he regrets not suing the UFC back in 2018 when he was stripped off his belt after suffering a freak injury.
Additionally, Ferguson claims that Dana White foiled his plans to compete in different disciplines at a professional level. The 38-year old told reporters:
“I think we’re underpaid, personally, to be real… I asked Dana to box. He said, ‘F*ck 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.' I want to go do all these couple things but then I have this guy right here acting like a f*cking drug dealer telling me I can’t go and do this sh*t. I want to go make more money for my family."
Watch Ferguson's appearance at the UFC 274 media day below:
