Wins the finale, wins two more fights, then loses to Michael Johnson
After that he goes on the infamous 12 fight win streak capping it off with the interim belt win before being stripped due to injury/inactivity. Became a fan favorite in this time
After that he fights Justin Gaethje. I give him a lot of shit because of his low fight IQ but he’s a stud. No shame in losing to him
After that he fights Charles Oliveira. Loses by decision. Again, no shame. He went on to become champ obviously
After that he fights Beneil Dariush. He was probably unknown to most at that point but clearly a stud. He beat the shit outta Tony
So with 3 straight losses, all to elite level fighters, next he fights Michael fucking chandler… this is where the ufc ruined this man. He took over a year off after those losses and instead of a tune up fight he gets another absolute killer in Michael Chandler
This fight should not have happened imo. He should have fought a Dan Hooker or an Arman Tsarukyan. Putting him up against Michael chandler was just flat out match making malfeasance imo. I was very confident that fight was going to end up poorly for him and it was even worse than I thought it would be
T Ferg deserved better. Even if he was wanting top level guys still the ufc should have looked at how he lost those 3 fights in a row and told him he needs to go back down in completion for at least one fight FFS
And that’s not to mention his most recent fight. The man gets knocked out with a front kick that’ll probably be KO of the year, and then Just 4 months later he’s fighting again. Chandler himself hasn’t even fought since that KO
The retards who decide the rankings are to blame. Tony was still top 5 after 3 dominant losses. This has been a major problem with the rankings. Fighters with name value stick around for far too long despite everyone knowing they are past it.
Even now Tony is in the top 15 despite being 0-5 and looking like dogshit against an unranked fighter.
He’s in a rough spot and has been stuck between a CTE Rock and an Aging Hard Place.
I think he has been needing to take a long break but because he is 38 if he takes too long of a break then he will be an almost 40 year old LW which is almost a death sentence if still fighting Elite competition. So he keeps taking fight after fight.
I think the blame is on himself more than the UFC. He was also doing stupid things like making weight in fights where his opponents like I think Khabib had pulled out of the fight. That is unnecessary to put your body through and adds to the wear and tear imo.
This just another example of a really good fighters fall. It did not take that long too. The Tony that was streaking with the Interim Belt was a beast and just like that because of the choices and the results of his last fights he has become a shell of himself and the future is uncertain. I like him and hope he takes a little more time off and takes a step down in competition or he can hang them up for good. I think he does the former.
You don’t get it. UFC had no reason and no motivation to “save Tony” and give him stylistically friendly fights with greener fighters who are 1-2 in the UFC or 3-4 with bad cardio.
Tony is expensive for the UFC to employ by the time he fought Gaethje, he is gonna be fighting killers at that price to the UFC.
Plus he was getting old, real old for a UFC LW.
Look at JDS, he like Tony was a aging big name who was expensive to employ. Expensive aging former champ like Tony.
After Ngannou beat JDS then JDS fought Blaydes, Rozenstruik and Gane. UFC built up the rising younger contenders Ngannou, Blaydes and Gane off beating JDS. Then they cut him. Thats how it goes when UFC thinks you are old and get paid a lot and they see little upside in keeping you around.
UFC made the Chandler fight because they considered him a strong favorite. Same with when they booked Gane vs JDS, Cain vs Ngannou etc…
I keep seeing people say Petr Yan should fight Umar or He ray Cejudo next
Absolutely fucking not. He should be fighting a 7-12 ranked opponent for his next two fights. Don’t fucking ruin him like they did T Ferg. Even though he beat SO’M and Sterling both times, his last fight was a real L and a bad beating. Time to cushion his competition level and get him back to winning
Agreed. I’ve always thought lose a fight to a Top 5 fighter, go down to 6th, lose 2 in a row to Top 10 fighters, down to 11. Lose 3 straight, no Top 15 place for you.
The Rankings are awful, as is the UFC Match Maker who has caused most of the damage to the organisation turning to shit since he took over
I can understand disagreeing with a judges decision but how can you call it a robbery when he blasted his opponent with a blatantly ilegal knee. He deserved nothing other than a DQ loss for that.
UFC gives fighters a big stage. It’s on fighters to make the best out of it. Sure, some fighters got the short end of the stick. Such is life. Stop blaming the UFC because grown up men chose to be part of it and felt they should’ve been rewarded more than they have.
In the case of T Ferg, for example, had he not been such a high profile fighter he wouldn’t have gotten half of the opportunities against other high profile fighters (not to mention the money). He screwed up every single opportunity, and in his last fight he displayed very low quality MMA.
