It didn’t take long for Ferguson to renounce the idea of retirement after his first round loss to Michael Chiesa in Abu Dhabi.
For a brief moment following his first round submission loss to Michael Chiesa in Abu Dhabi, it looked like Tony Ferguson might finally retire. The 40-year-old “El Cucuy” is 0-8 over the past four years and simply hasn’t looked the same since a bad beating at the hands of Justin Gaethje at UFC 249. But Ferguson continues to believe he can turn things back around, and confirmed he wasn’t ready to stop competing.
He discussed the latest loss at the UFC on ABC post-fight press conference and how nerves hurt his performance.
“Felt super slow going in, fighting for hands when I went for wrestling,” Ferguson said. “I felt sick, I threw up probably like three to four times being nervous as f—k. I usually don’t get nervous, but in the back I was yakking and dry heaving, which is kinda funny how that works. This is the only sport that makes me do that … I think more than anything else it’s because I wanna perform to the best of my abilities out there, and I really didn’t.”
Following the loss, Ferguson laid one glove down in the cage but decided to keep the other.
“I’m kinda like, no, I still wanna fight,” he explained. “I still wanna compete and I still wanna do this … I wanna do a whole bunch of stuff. If I didn’t have the love, both those gloves would have been left in that f—ing ring.”
Ferguson now holds the record for longest UFC losing streak, and it’s unlikely the promotion will give him another fight. If that’s the case, Tony is prepared to compete elsewhere.
“What we do is we go do something else,” he said. “And I wanna be real. If those fans out there are willing enough to come [to Abu Dhabi] and fly and spend thousands of dollars to come watch me compete somewhere, I can f—ing tell you they’re gonna follow me somewhere. And that’s the humblest thing I could say because no matter where I’m at, no matter what I’m doing, I’m gonna get better and better and better and better.”
“I feel like these gray hairs right here with the blonde hair, you know, are kinda slowly fading away too.”
“Obviously, I’m not done with sports. That’s sports, not just MMA,” he clarified. “When it goes into boxing, when it goes into grappling, when it goes into mixed martial arts, I have an agent that’s been looking after me for a long time, and I’m happy with that. And I’m gonna keep providing for the fans, for my family, and everybody else the way I know how to, which is hard work.”
“I’m not gonna f—ing stop competing. That’s just in my blood. That’s just how I am.”