During the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday, Tony Ferguson issued an out-of-nowhere call-out of Jon Jones, implying he had beaten the UFC light heavyweight champion in a college wrestling match and would like to do it again.
“Lot Of S— Talk @jonnybones. You Wanna Play Again Like We Did In College? I Bumped Up Two Weight Classes & I’ll Do It Again Growth. You Wanna Play Chess I’ll Be Your Huckleberry. Got You In 2 Neanderthal, Talked To Your Pops He Knows Who’s Champ. # Anklepick # DavidVSGoliath,” Ferguson wrote on Twitter (edited for profanity).
Ferguson’s tweet drew confusion from just about everyone, but Jones wasted little time in responding. And when he did, he went in hard — too hard.
Jones took aim at Ferguson’s well-documented mental health issues, asking the UFC star if he was over there feeling suicidal.
“Wait, when did this beef start?!? I thought we were cool!! You over there feeling suicidal Tony?” Jones said in a since deleted tweet.
After heavy criticism reigned down on Jones, he sent out a new flurry of tweets saying he wasn’t aware of Ferguson’s mental health issues and offered up an apology.
“Definitely should’ve used a better choice of words, deleted that last tweet. My fault, I’m sorry guys,” Jones said in another tweet that has been deleted. “Definitely knew nothing about my guy having any mental health issues, I do now though. I apologize for my response back to him and moving on.”
After being pressed about his comments, Jones said he doesn’t “really sit around and read other fighters [sic] articles.” He later admitted that he was in his “feelings” and needed someone to come take his phone away.
Ferguson, who’s on a 12-fight winning streak, currently sits as the No. 1 contender to the lightweight title. He could soon square up with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but perhaps a showdown between he and Jones will materialize somewhere down the line.
For now, this beef begins and ends with a series of bizarre from both Ferguson and Jones.
