Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
You know all those You had one job! memes?
Turns out longtime UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson was relying on advice from a visually-impaired cornerman who was unable to see what kind of damage “El Cucuy” sustained in his UFC 249 loss to Justin Gaethje earlier this month in Jacksonville.
Apparently the bandits who broke into coach Eddie Bravo’s car were just as “blind” as he was, which is probably why they stole his glasses. After all, what kind of value do prescription glasses fetch on the black market?
“My car got broken into last week, they stole my glasses. I need my glasses, I’m pretty blind,” Bravo told The Joe Rogan Experience. “So I didn’t realize how cut up he was until I walked up to him. It was a mistake for me to go in there. He’s hurt, he’s cut up, a lot of things are swirling through my head – ‘What is the best advice here? I need help’. I froze. And it’s so quiet. I dunno. I froze. I’ve never been in that situation before in my life. I’m not the guy for that, I shouldn’t have been in there.”
I can’t help but think of that Seinfeld episode where George thinks someone stole his glasses.
Ferguson was training for Khabib Nurmagomedov in what was expected to be a lightweight title fight back in April, making Bravo — a decorated jiu-jitsu fighter — the right man for the job. Then coronavirus trapped “The Eagle” in Russia and “El Cucuy” was forced to battle Gaethje on short notice.
The former is a top-heavy grappler, the latter is a heavy-handed striker.
“Rashad Holloway is his boxing coach, and Billy [Fonua] is his Muay Thai coach,” Bravo said. “So one of them went in, I’m on the outside, I’ve got nothing to say. All I had to say is, ‘Tony, you’re looking good.’ But after that fourth round it was looking like, ‘Oh shit,’ then right after the bell rung Rashad turns around and goes, ‘Eddie, get in there’. I wasn’t ready for it. I walked in there going, ‘What the … I’m not an MMA head coach’.”
Ferguson lost by fifth-round technical knockout in a performance that left him with multiple injuries. What sort of damage could have been prevented from a more cohesive (and better prepared) corner is unknown, but it doesn’t sound like “El Cucuy” had the best support system on fight night.
For much more on the fallout from UFC 249: “Ferguson vs. Gaethje” click here.