Dana White just broke some truly surprising news at the post UFC 278 press conference. White was overwhelmed with the finish of Usman, Edwards. White also heaped praise on Costa and Rockhold despite the comments Rockhold made in lead up to the event.
But perhaps the biggest news coming out of the event was that Tony Ferguson will be making his 170lbs debut.
Ferguson had long lobbied to move to welterweight – which UFC brass wasn’t receptive to. But Tony Ferguson is 38 years old and weight cutting is ridiculously rough at his age. By comparison, Masvidal moved to Welterweight a long while ago and isn’t struggling despite being noticeably undersized in the division.
During previous media week, Ferguson talked a little bit about moving to 170lbs saying:
“And they’ve been making me cut weight. They made me feel like I was inadequate going up to 170lbs again, they made me feel like I could not do that. They made me feel like I had to lose weight over and over and didn’t care about how I feel. I don’t care about how I was treating my body or I was treating my mind.”
White told media:
“Oh, he didn’t say who was fighting now? Let you know soon.”
” It’s done. It’s it’s Leech. ”
Journalist prompted:
“Li Jinglaing. At 170?”
White confirmed:
“Yes.”
Tony Ferguson vs. Li Jingliang in a welterweight is confirmed for UFC 279 on Sept. 10 in Las Vegas.
Li Jingliang recorded a victory over Muslim Salikhov back in July after that demoralizing loss to Khamzat Chimaev.