{"id":286716,"date":"2018-10-03T12:02:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T19:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=286716"},"modified":"2018-10-03T12:02:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T19:02:09","slug":"tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In October of 2017, Tony Ferguson captured the interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee. In April of 2018, he was scheduled to fight top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in a bout that would crown the winner the undisputed lightweight champion.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Tony Ferguson was forced out of this fight with a freak injury. Khabib Nurmagomedov wound up defeating short-notice replacement opponent Al Iaquinta to win the undisputed title, while Ferguson was quietly stripped of his interim title.<\/p>\n<p>As you can probably imagine, Ferguson was not happy about this turn of events. All the same, he still considers himself a champion \u2014 which is why he&#8217;s been toting around his UFC belt throughout UFC 229 fight week, ahead of his fight with Anthony Pettis.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tony Ferguson Implies Contract States He&#039;s Next for UFC Lightweight Title if He Beats Anthony Pettis\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s8IbedkTxMk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"6Uo0dr\">\u201cI\u2019m the f*cking champ,\u201d Tony Ferguson said (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2018\/10\/2\/17931018\/tony-ferguson-on-ufc-stripping-interim-title-how-do-you-think-i-f-cking-feel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cSee this gold right here. I didn\u2019t lose my belt. They took it from me. The one thing they didn\u2019t take is my smile. So after my surgery, I made a conscious decision to not want anybody else\u2019s help that didn\u2019t want to help me. So yeah, I\u2019ve got a little chip on my shoulder. It\u2019s still there. It f*cking weighs a lot. But in this whole entire process, I gained so much more than you guys would ever imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The good news for Tony Ferguson is that, while it&#8217;s unlikely many members of the MMA community still consider him the true lightweight champion, he&#8217;s could have the chance to earn that title if he beats Pettis this weekend. Apparently, it&#8217;s written into his contract that he will get the next crack at the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor&#8217;s UFC 229 title fight if he defeat Pettis on the card.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"pUTjOJ\">\u201cIt\u2019s in my contract,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cSo all these mother fuckers out there on TMZ saying they\u2019re next. Nah, I\u2019m next. But I\u2019m the first. And I\u2019m the last, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Do you think Tony Ferguson will wear the undisputed UFC lightweight belt in the future?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 10\/3\/2018.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In October of 2017, Tony Ferguson captured the interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee. In April of 2018, he was scheduled to fight top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in a bout that would crown the winner the undisputed lightweight champion. Unfortunately, Tony Ferguson was forced out of this fight with a freak [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":282705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10113,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In October of 2017, Tony Ferguson captured the interim lightweight title with a submission defeat of Kevin Lee. In April of 2018, he was scheduled to fight top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov in a bout that would crown the winner the undisputed lightweight champion. Unfortunately, Tony Ferguson was forced out of this fight with a freak [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-03T19:02:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tony-Ferguson-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-03T19:02:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-03T19:02:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Tony Ferguson\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\",\"name\":\"Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-03T19:02:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-03T19:02:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/tony-ferguson-opens-up-on-being-stripped-of-interim-title-still-considers-himself-the-champ\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Tony Ferguson opens up on being stripped of interim title, still considers himself the champ\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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