Tony Ferguson sees his next opponent, Paddy Pimblett, as nothing more than a stepping stone to a showdown with Irish megastar Conor McGregor.
Riding a six-fight losing streak, many thought Tony Ferguson’s last defeat at the hands of ‘King’ Bobby Green in July would send ‘El Cucuy’ quietly into retirement. We now know that won’t be the case as the former interim lightweight champion is scheduled for another go inside the Octagon this December. Helping to close out the promotion’s pay-per-view schedule, Ferguson will square off with UK fan favorite Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296.
Many fight fans were quick to condemn the UFC for booking a fighter on a six-fight losing streak against an opponent on a six-fight win streak, but according to Tony Ferguson, he’s already looking past ‘The Paddy’ and onto a long-desired scrap with Conor McGregor.
“I have nothing against the kid. Patrick seems like a pretty legit dude,” Ferguson said of Pimblett in an interview with ESPN. “He gets pretty big, his standup is okay, but his ground game is a lot better. I love fighting internationals. It’s cool, I love it. Going after Khabib for a long time and going after ‘McNuggets’, this is about as close as it’s going to get for right now. So as soon as we get through this dude, we’ll go after Conor if he’ll sign on the dotted line and get through USADA” (h/t BloodyElbow).
Being one win away from tying BJ Penn’s record for the most consecutive losses in UFC history, Tony Ferguson may be better served by focusing on the task at hand.
After touting his own return for the last year, McGregor no longer seems slated for a 2023 comeback after failing to re-enter the USADA testing pool for six months of required pre-fight screening. The Irishman has remained adamant that ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler will be his next opponent but with a laundry list of challengers lining up to win the Conor McGregor lottery, there’s no telling who the former two-division titleholder will face when (and if) he makes his return.