The UFC is in the process of finalizing a fight between Tony Ferguson and Charles Oliveira for UFC 256 on December 12th. News of the bout was first reported by ESPN.
Ferguson’s last fight was his UFC 249 loss to Justin Gaethje back in May. It was the first time El Cucuy was on the losing end of a fight since 2012. Oliveira will come into the fight on a 7-fight winning streak dating back to 2017.
Ferguson had hoped to fight Michael Chandler next month. He released a video on social media saying he was “tired of sitting on the sidelines” and wanted a fight booked for December.
The former Bellator lightweight champion stated that he would not be fighting in December, however. Chandler said to ESPN that he wanted to fight Ferguson on the undercard of Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier in January instead.
“There is a 0% chance I’ll fight Tony Ferguson in December,” Chandler said. “And I 100% know he knew that, because the UFC already told him that, and I’ve already said I’ll see him in January.
“Now that we have Conor (McGregor) fighting Dustin (Poirier) – it looks like that fight will get booked on Jan. 23 – they need a co-main event. Why wouldn’t it be Chandler vs. Ferguson?”
