Dana : go spend your career in Bellator
UFC lightweight veteran Tony Ferguson says that his return to action and career timeline will be decided by himself, and not UFC President Dana White.
At UFC 274 earlier this month, Fergusonās torrid run of form continued. Having entered 2020 riding a 12-fight win streak and with a title shot secured, the fan favorite has since lost four consecutive Octagon outings.
After dropping an interim championship opportunity to Justin Gaethje via TKO, āEl Cucuyā fell to defeat on the scorecards against Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush. While heād hoped to snap that skid on May 7 in Jacksonville, Michael Chandler left him unconscious in the second round courtesy of a truly vicious front kick.
But despite the devastating loss, Ferguson hasnāt appeared at all disheartened or demotivated since, and is already looking ahead to his return. When he does step inside the cage again, heās insisted that itāll be on his terms.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour , Ferguson, who has made his willingness to return to welterweight known, claimed that the UFC president had made him āfeel like sh*tā in the past, largely in regards to a weight switch.
Now, Ferguson says he wonāt let anyone make him feel like that again, not the commentary team, the fans, or Dana White.
āI have nothing against going up a weight class. For a long time, Dana made me feel like sht for going up a weight,ā revealed Ferguson. āBut he made me feel like sht for a long time, and when you have people making you feel like sh*t like that, essentially you start to almost believe it.
āIām not standing here giving him the finger, but Iām kinda sitting here like, Iām gonna do me for me now, and youāre gonna watch me now. Iām not tryna be unhappy anymore, because I just canāt do that sht anymore,ā added Ferguson. āIām not gonna let commentary or people have that fault and throw it in my sht. I do that myself, and I do it enough.ā
Ferguson: When I Say Iāll Fight, Iāll Fight
With that strong stance in mind, Ferguson gave a stern response to Whiteās suggestion that he should take a lengthy period away from he cage following his KO loss at UFC 274.
According to the #10-ranked lightweight, heās calling the shots now, and when he wants to fight and is ready to, heāll be throwing down inside the Octagon.
āAs far as a return, he says Iām gonna take some time off. Man, I call the shots,ā asserted Ferguson. āWhenever I say I fight, they always give me a fight, and thatās how it goesā¦ They know already. When I say Iām ready, Iām gonna be ready.ā
While some have looked at Fergusonās four-fight losing skid and the fashion of his latest loss to conclude that his time is nearly up in the sport, Ferguson clearly believes the opposite. Heāll look to prove that he can still compete at the highest level when he next enters the cage, a return he expects to come before the end of 2022.
Tony is the type of guyā¦ to cut himself after 4 lossesā¦
Time for Tony to go get posterized by MVP.
cant disagree
After their 5 fights fell through 25-7 Tony just canāt stop thinking about 29-0 Khabib.
He had one or two shots get in there, but he didnāt like the elbows,ā Ferguson added later. āI got head-butted a couple of times, which was cool, because itās a fight, thatās what you do. The ref said what he had to do, and I was trying to kick off the cage, and he was like, āGet your fingers out of the cage.ā It was a great battle between two athletes that are at the top tier of the game.ā
The loss was Fergusonās fourth straight since a TKO over Donald Cerrone at UFC 238 marked his 12th straight win and set up a long-awaited fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. The title bout was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic in its fourth failed booking.
Fergusonās memory of what happened is still spotty. He doesnāt remember being in the octagon afterward, or the words of encouragement from UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell in the arena. He can only link the outcome to the wrong timing and fate.
āI just remember not putting pressure, and me trying to figure that out,ā he said. āI have to go back to listen to the commentary and the audio from the corner, but my wrestling coach said something about pressure, and I donāt know, it was just completely different. God told me I wasnāt ready, pretty much.ā
Still, Ferguson said he feels āamazingā and doesnāt regret anything that happened in the fight.
āThereās a lot, obviously, that I can go back and try to fix,ā he said. āBut props to Michael Chandler for using my f****** move to knock me out. That s*** donāt happen every day.ā
The front kick might not be Fergusonās signature in the same way it is for Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and now Chandler. But the next time out, he said heāll be working on his striking game much more extensively with a new team.
Right now, that means sparring in training for the first time in three years.
āI donāt really need to have that, but I want to have that,ā he said. āThe want and the will is there to hit people again and to get hit and not feel bad about hurting people again, because it sucks. You can ask Rose Namajunas - I guarantee you she doesnāt like hurting people. And itās kind of crazy, because weāre in the hurt game, but when you get to this high level and you have a soft heart for a lot of people, itās hard to go in there and make this stuff happen.ā
Sparring will help sharpen the timing that went badly awry, he said, but it will also get him in the mindset he needs to inflict the kind of damage he suffered.
āWhen I first started, I was hungry for that, and Iāve got that same hunger back, and thereās no bulls*** on that,ā he said. āI want to go and spar and I want to do damage again, not to hurt people, but to better myself.ā
Sounds like heās established the victim mindset, blaming everything elsewhere. Heās projecting everywhere to protect his broken ego.
I personally think that would be the best career move for Tony right now. Become a bigger fish in a much smaller pond
Embarrassing as hell to speak this way after a brutal KO and a fourth defeat in a row
nate vs tony. now.
dont make me come get ya , dana!
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Bellator is great if you can beat all the guys in your weight class and win the belt. Itās a shitty place to be if youāre losing over there. 155 actually doesnāt look that bad for him right now. Ben Henderson is ranked #3, Peter Queally is 5ā¦Sidney Outlaw is the #1 contender. I would expect Ferguson to do really well over thereā¦but I doubt Bellator signs him.
It would look really bad for Bellator if they signed a guy who was on such a bad streak and he came over and beat all your guys. There was no risk of that with guys like Bader, Anderson and Phil Davisā¦all were still legit top 5 guys.
Itās probably a better idea to put Tony in with Dan Hooker. Who would he even fight at 170 that would be a good fight? All those guys are way too big.
Quite honestly Iām not sure what Fergusonās contract looks like right now. How many fights does he have on his contract? Was the Chandler fight the last one on his current contract? If he has one more fight on his contract then I would agree a fight with somebody like hooker would make sense and hopefully he can go out on a W. If not, its a theoretical nail in the coffin. At VERY best at that point, MAYBE Dana offers him less money to stick around and keep him from Bellator. Honestly though, Tony doesnt do himself any favors with his mouth. General rule in any sport, you can be high maintenance if you put asses in the seats and perform. Tony hasnāt done either in awhile. Keep in mind Iām not 100% familiar with his current contract situation, which typically always seems to be in the UFCās control anyway.
In a way Tony is right. By losing 4 in a row he is forcing Dana to cut him!