Retire? ‘We Want Dana To Do A Lot Of S— Too’

Ferguson is looking to break a seven fight losing streak in Abu Dhabi on August 3rd, but either way he’s not thinking about this being his last fight.

Tony Ferguson is back in action this weekend in Abu Dhabi and defiant as ever.

“El Cucuy” spoke to the press on media day for UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov, where he’ll fight Michael Chiesa at welterweight. In addition to discussing his new weight class and return to sparring, he addressed UFC CEO Dana White’s request that he retire if he loses.

“Well, we want Dana to do a lot of shit too,” Ferguson said.

But all questions like that will hopefully be silenced when Tony shows the world what he can do a weight class up.

“I’m being real with it. At 170 pounds, I’m not killing myself to get to 155,” he said. “I do feel fresher. 155 is closer to my high school wrestling weight, 152 pounds. So you guys do the math. I’m forty f—ing years old. I’ve been competing in this sport for a very long time, all around in sports for over thirty five years. Kind of crazy. Wrestled in college at 165. 170 is what I won The Ultimate Fighter at. Michael Chiesa won it at 155.”

“We do the math. We do the numbers. You’re not supposed to go backwards. I’ve been fighting backwards my whole entire time trying to just stay there for who god knows what reason. 170, I feel comfortable. I don’t feel like this is gonna be my last fight. I have to do some extraordinary s—, is what I’m planning to do.”

For years Ferguson has said he hasn’t sparred, but for this camp he’s done over 120 rounds. Chiesa has dismissed the change in training tactics as too little too late, which annoyed Tony.

“Haters will always discredit any kind of work that you give in,” he said. Sparring’s been awesome … every Thursday and every Saturday, I would round up at least 12 rounds. Good sparring in. So kiss my ass, I got the numbers to prove it. F— him.”

The change has been good for Ferguson, who admits to feeling burnt out over the past seven loss stretch.

“I’ve gotten so burnt out doing so many different things, trying to do the same old thing over and over. It didn’t make sense to me anymore, and I lost touch. It was like a burnt out candle that you can’t light again. I feel rejuvenated. I feel awesome.”

He knows it’s do or die out there in Abu Dhabi against Chiesa, who is on his own three fight losing skid.

“I love the UFC and this is where I’m gonna stay, so I have to earn that right,” Ferguson said. “I do have seven losses. I mean, who gets an eighth chance except for me? I don’t ever ask for a lot of s—, but I’m asking myself to go out there and do the best performance I possibly can so that way I can retain my spot.”

“I do wanna be here. I don’t wanna go fight for another organization. Where the f— am I gonna go, BKFC and have Conor [McGregor] work for me again? No.”