Many people were extremely disappointed when news broke that the UFC 209 lightweight interim title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson was canceled after Nurmagomedov was admitted to a hospital hours before weigh-ins.

With Nurmagomedov out of the fight, Michael Johnson stepped up to fight Ferguson on short notice and said he was able to make weight. Interestingly, Ferguson’s last loss, which was 10 bouts ago in 2012 was to Johnson.

Ferguson ended up turning down the fight with Johnson, eliminating his fight from UFC 209 card. “El Cucuy,” said that the UFC told him that the last minute fight against Johnson would not be an interim title fight and that he would be taking a drop in pay from what he was contracted to earn for the fight against Nurmagomedov.

UFC President Dana White was a guest on GGN News with host Snoop Dogg and recalled his conversation he had with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor regarding the incident.

“So, you know this shit that went on between Tony Ferguson and Khabib, right? Conor texted me,” White said (at 18:18 of the video). “You know what he said to me? He says, ‘I can’t believe you’re going to pay that bum, Tony Ferguson, one dollar.’ He goes, ‘You shouldn’t pay that guy a f**king dime. He was there, made weight, and you lined up a fight for him with Michael Johnson after Khabib fell out and didn’t make weight. You lined up a fight with him and Michael Johnson and he turned it down? F**king bum. You shouldn’t pay him a dime.’ That’s Conor’s mentality. He should have took that Michael Johnson fight. Are you a fighter? Did you prepare? Did you train? That’s what Conor said to me. That’s one of the many things that I love about Conor McGregor.”

What do you think about Conor McGregor’s conversation with Dana White regarding Tony Ferguson turning down the Michael Johnson fight? Let’s hear it in the comment section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/24/2017.