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Tony Ferguson has won 12 straight fights under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) umbrella, and he has yet to fight for the promotion’s undisputed 155-pound strap. He did win the interim belt at UFC 216 with a win over Kevin Lee, but he was stripped of it after tearing up his knee six months later, barely giving him time to enjoy life as (interim) champ.
But that could all change soon, as “El Cucuy” will likely face the winner of the upcoming title fight between division champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and interim title holder, Dustin Poirier, set to go down on Sept. 7, 2019.
If you ask Poirier, there should be no doubt that Ferguson get the victor.
“100 percent it’s Tony Ferguson without a second guess,” Poirier told MMA Fighting during a recent UFC 242 media conference call. “Without any argument, it’s Tony Ferguson. No doubt.”
Since getting stripped of his belt, all Ferguson has done is keep winning, taking out Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone in back-to-back wars. Throughout his eight-year tenure with UFC, Ferguson has only tasted defeat once, losing to Michael Johnson way back in 2013.
Still, though he is giving Tony his vote of confidence, Poirier won’t look too far ahead as he says he has much bigger fish to fry at the moment.
“Honestly I don’t think about that type of stuff because 25 minutes with Khabib is all I can focus on right now,” Poirier stated. “I can’t disrespect the work that needs to be done Sept. 7.”
Still, whether it’s Khabib or Dustin, anyone of those men pitted against Ferguson is sure-to-be fireworks. And while Conor McGregor has made his intentions of returning known, there shouldn’t be any reason as to why “Notorious” gets to skip to the front of the championship line coming off a loss.