‘Can we put a real journalist on?’: Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee go back and forth in TV argument

It might not make sense for Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee to fight next, but a legion of fans likely want to see it now.

Ferguson and Lee sparred verbally in a spirited — and funny — on-air argument Sunday night on the FS1 post-fight show following UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma City. Lee was the winner over Michael Chiesa in the main event of the card and Ferguson was working as an analyst on the desk.

The whole thing started when Ferguson, perhaps jokingly, asked Lee about the sequence when Chiesa hit him with a “DDT” in the first round of his eventual submission win. It wasn’t really a pro-wrestling move, of course. Lee was slamming Chiesa to the mat; Chiesa wasn’t the aggressor in that particular exchange.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Lee said. “I don’t even know what a DDT is. I think that’s a WWE move. I’m pretty sure I’m the one that lifted him in the air, so I don’t see how he’s slamming me when I’m putting him on my shoulder. Can we put a real journalist on?”

Ferguson, the top contender in the lightweight division in which Lee competes, took umbrage with the response and told Lee, in so many words, to slow his role — that he’s not ready for a top contender fight like Ferguson or Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“You’re just like Al Iaquinta,” Ferguson said. “I can’t understand anything you say. Everything you’re saying is all just a bunch of hoopla. You need to get in line. You need to take a ticket and you need to bleed a little bit. You need to go through guys like Edson Barboza, Rafael dos Anjos. You’re just barely breaking into this whole thing.”

Ferguson said he would eat Lee “up for lunch,” but his résumé doesn’t yet meet his “standards.

“I’m trying to give you advice,” Lee responded. “Right now, you’re playing the reporter role. … You might want to do your job a little bit better, that’s all I’m saying.”