Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator, Joe Rogan, has seen his fair share of lightweight fighters across his storied mixed martial arts (MMA) broadcasting career, so it would probably take someone truly special to have him “freaked out” at this stage of the game.
Enter Tony Ferguson.
Rogan remains in awe of the former interim lightweight champion, who is expected to fight for the 155-pound title later this year after smashing Donald Cerrone at UFC 238, his twelfth straight victory and the twentieth stoppage of his MMA career.
“Tony Ferguson’s an animal,” Rogan said on his official podcast (transcribed by BJPenn.com). “He’s the scariest guy at 155 in my world cause he don’t get tired. That ‘Cowboy’ fight freaked me out. ‘Cowboy’ looked like Tony had bricks in his gloves. His face was all busted up, Tony didn’t look like he had a scratch on him and Tony wasn’t even tired. It’s crazy man, he has insane power. It’s a weird thing cause Tony does stuff to people and he doesn’t get tired.”
Ferguson (25-3) graduated season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) by toe-tagging Ramsey Nijem back in 2011. Since then, the 35 year-old lightweight has been nearly perfect, with an uninspired decision loss to Michael Johnson in 2012 serving as the only hiccup in an otherwise brilliant UFC career.
“The thing is Tony’s pace is so disturbing,” Rogan said. “It’s so disturbing. Because I watch him fight guys and I’m like, ‘how do you keep up with that.’ Nobody keeps up with it. You gotta crack him. You gotta catch him. Anthony [Pettis] caught him, but he broke his hand. But Pettis had him hurt and Lando had him hurt. Lando Vannata cracked him and had him hurt. He knows how to survive though.”
As of this writing, there is no guarantee Ferguson will get the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier, who compete at UFC 242 this September in Abu Dhabi, thanks to the looming presence of former champion, Conor McGregor.
After all, bad blood equals good business.