Tony Ferguson has always been one of the most exciting fighters on the UFC roster due to a combination of his unique fighting style and wacky personality.
The former interim lightweight champion is one of the greatest 155lb fighters of all time as he holds several high-profile wins over the likes of Rafael dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, and Kevin Lee.
But he never faced Khabib Nurmagomedov despite the UFC top brass’ best efforts. After five failed attempts, the promotion hoped to finally match ‘El Cucuy’ against lightweight champion Khabib but first, he had to get by Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 in May 2020.
Despite scoring a flash knockdown in round one, Ferguson was brutally beaten up by ‘The Highlight’ for five rounds before veteran referee Herb Dean mercifully brought a halt to proceedings with just minutes left of the fight.
With his face a bloody, swollen mess, the unrecognisable UFC star was taken to a Florida hospital after his fight at Jacksonville’s VyStars Memorial Arena.
Soon after his 12-fight win streak came to an end, it was confirmed Ferguson had suffered a broken orbital but his spirits remained high despite that.
A day later, the Mexican-American fighter uploaded a clip to social media that showed him dancing to Midnight Star’s Midas Touch in a hospital gown while holding what is presumably an IV drip.
“Recovery dayze. When you’re about to get discharged from the hospital #LetMeOut #MothersDayVibes Post-fight #UFC249,” Ferguson captioned the post.
Despite appearing to mentally recover from his brutal loss to Gaethje two years ago, Ferguson has never been able to rediscover the form that made him a UFC titleholder.
Since then, he has suffered dominant defeats against Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush and Michael Chandler. Ferguson lost six rounds on the spin against ‘Do Bronx’ and ‘Benny’ before Chandler put him to sleep with a front kick to face earlier this year at UFC 274.
Now, Ferguson has decided to step up to welterweight as he goes in search of his first win in three years against former Khamzat Chiamev opponent, Li Jingliang, at UFC 279.
‘Leech’ is certainly a step down from the level of competition the Ultimate Fighter winner has been facing lately but he still represents a tough task for the ageing contender.
The Chinese fighter has won 11 fights since signing with the UFC in 2014, including a high-profile knockout win over former welterweight contender Santiago Ponzinibbio.
A win over Ferguson would certainly be his biggest to date and it could well signal the end of what has been an amazing career for the future UFC Hall of Fame inductee.
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