Tony Ferguson offered to help train Jake Paul since the YouTuber-turned-boxer signed with the PFL for his MMA debut. ‘El Cucuy’ invited Paul to train with him in a tweet that Ferguson posted earlier in January.
Following signing with the PFL, Jake Paul took the opportunity to call out UFC veteran Nate Diaz for a two-fight deal. He said he’d fight the Stockton native in a boxing match and then rematch him in MMA.
Jake Paul hasn’t responded to Tony Ferguson inviting him to train MMA with him. ‘El Cucuy’ put out the following tweet calling Jake out for not responding:
The caption to the tweet read:
“Yo, Jake Paul. [I] haven’t heard back from [you]. Although [you] follow my play more than the ‘thots’, it’s really about CSO, IMO. Set a meeting [up] with me if you are smart. Remember, kid. I’m watching – Champ.”
Check out the original tweet by Tony Ferguson inviting Jake Paul to train with him:
Here’s what the caption to Ferguson’s tweet inviting Jake Paul to train read:
“Let me know when you need a good MMA coach, Jake Paul. You can be one of my students – Champ.”
Ferguson last fought Stockton bad boy Nate Diaz at UFC 279 in what was the latter’s last fight in the promotion (and possibly MMA). The fight was competitive but Diaz got the better of the striking exchanges, forcing ‘El Cucuy’ to shoot for a takedown.
The takedown proved fallacious on the part of Ferguson as Diaz synched up a tight guillotine choke forcing ‘El Cucuy’ to tap in the third round.
When Tony Ferguson trained for Li Jinliang but got Nate Diaz instead
The UFC 279 fight card was turned on its head when Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by more than eight pounds in his welterweight bout against Nate Diaz. Tony Ferguson was supposed to face Chinese phenom Li Jinliang. Kevin Holland, who eventually faced Chimaev in a 180-pound catchweight bout, was expected to face Daniel Rodriguez in a welterweight bout.
With Chimaev missing weight, the whole card was shuffled with Ferguson facing Diaz in the main event, while ‘Borz’ faced ‘Trailblazer’ in the co-main event.
At the time, Ferguson had moved Jackson Wink MMA for his UFC 279 fight camp and trained extensively for a striking-heavy fighter like Li Jinliang. With the change in match-ups, Ferguson faced an extremely stylistically different fighter in Diaz who has excellent grappling credentials.
The matchup change proved to be disadvantageous for Ferguson as ‘El Cucuy’ was overwhelmed in the striking exchanges. In the third round, Ferguson shot for a takedown after being peppered by Diaz, to which the Stockton native responded by locking up a tight guillotine from the closed guard position.
Tony Ferguson has been on a five-fight losing skid, having lost to Diaz, Michael Chandler, Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje. Prior to facing Justin Gaethje, Ferguson was on a 12 fight tear in the lightweight division.