Tony Ferguson isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.
That’s particularly true for “El Cucuy’s” fellow Lightweight veteran, Vinc Pichel. The pair of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stablemates have never crossed paths inside the Octagon, but outside of it, they didn’t have a positive interaction.
With both fighters currently preparing to make returns to action to close out 2023, Pichel, 40, reflected on the time he used to train at ‘Big’ John McCarthy’s gym from 2007 to 2015. One day, Ferguson came by to train and things escalated quickly.
“Immediately before that, we knew he had a reputation for being a bridge-burner,” Pichel told James Lynch. “He’s burned people before and we all knew about it. So, ‘Big John’ kind of came up to us and was like, ‘Hey, Tony Ferguson wants to train with us.’ At first, I was like f—k that guy. He’s just a scumbag, I don’t trust him. On the other hand, he’d be a good partner. So, let’s just let him come in, and let’s train with him and see how he does. If he fits in with us, s—t, he might fit right in and I might just be an asshole and he could fit in with us. Let’s do it.
“He comes in one day and then, at this time, I’m just coming back in the gym,” he continued. “I had a very bad neck injury so I wasn’t training. I was still a little injured but kind of getting over that hump and starting to get better.
“We were practicing kimuras and so we’re going over technique,” Pichel added. “I tell him, ‘Hey, I’m just coming back from a neck injury. Whatever you do, just don’t do anything that’s gonna tweak my neck with a kimura.’ First thing this piece of s—t does is he gets a kimura then he continues to scissor me across my neck and just squeeze it as hard as he can. Not even touching the kimura, just squeezing my neck as hard as he can. I started cussing. I think I punched him in the f—king dick or something to get him to let go. I get up and he’s like, ‘What’s your problem?’ I f—king shove him then ‘Big John’ gets between us and I’m like f—k this guy. If you’re gonna keep this guy, I’m gone. I don’t give a f—k. This guy’s a piece of s—t. Ever since then, I’ve just been like, ‘F—k you, Tony Ferguson.’ I’ll never be friends with him because of that because that showed me what a piece of s—t he really is.”
At this juncture, a Pichel vs. Ferguson match up wouldn’t be the most illogical fight to make. The Ultimate Fighter 13 and 15 (TUF) alumnus are currently booked to face Ismael Bonfim at UFC Sao Paulo on Nov. 4, 2023, and Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 on Dec. 16, 2023, respectively. Pichel’s clash with Bonfim will see him attempt to rebound off an April 2022 unanimous decision loss to Mark Madsen while Ferguson hopes to end Pimblett’s six-fight winning streak, snapping his six-fight losing streak.