Tony Ferguson has an interesting take on his recent fights.
Amid growing pleas for him to call time on his career, former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will look to show that he has plenty left in the tank this weekend at UFC 296.
The pay-per-view event, set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night, will see Ferguson welcome prospect Paddy Pimblett back to the Octagon. The Liverpool native hasn’t competed since a controversial decision victory last December.
Ferguson, meanwhile, has entered the cage once in 2023 to date, falling via submission to Bobby Green at UFC 291 this past July. The result extended the fan favorite’s losing skid to six straight fights.
But despite failing to win since 2019 and seeing Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, and Green all have their hands raised at his expense, “El Cucuy” insists everything has been part of a bigger plan.
Tony Ferguson Claims He Was ‘Sandbagging’ To Lure Khabib Nurmagomedov Back
During a recent fight week interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Ferguson looked ahead to his latest chance at snapping his difficult losing skid.
The former interim champ had an interesting assessment of his past three years, claiming he was accepting opportunities and not preparing adequately in order to draw the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov back to the Octagon.
“It was just taking fights so that I could get Khabib to come back,” Ferguson said. “And we almost coached against each other, so he took the bait. Then something happened to him, something different where he didn’t even coach Islam (Makhachev). So, it took a lot for him to not want to show up. Interesting, but like I said, I know him front and back. I have a full dossier on this dude. I’m hunting him down.
“During the pandemic, with Oliveira, I didn’t practice. I practiced maybe jiu-jitsu half the time. I just took all these opportunities just to stay competitive to get Khabib and lure him in, so that he would think I’m not as tough,” Tony Ferguson continued. “I call it sandbagging. In reality, I’ve been sandbagging for almost 20 fights.”
A bout between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely believed to lead the ‘what if?’ category of highly anticipated fights that failed to reach the cage. In the case of “El Cucuy” and “The Eagle,” that was despite five separate bookings.
Heading into UFC 296, Tony Ferguson has been touting his intense preparation and insisting that he’s worked too hard for Pimblett to have a chance of victory at the T-Mobile Arena on December 16.
Either way, it appears the ship has firmly sailed on a collision with the retired Khabib.
