Like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, Tony Ferguson ain’t f*ckin’ leaving.
Returning to the Octagon on Saturday night, the once-celebrated lightweight etched his name in the history books with his eighth-straight defeat. Following the first-round submission loss to Michael Chiesa in Abu Dhabi, it really looked like Ferguson was going to lay down his gloves for good — something Dana White would certainly approve of at this point.
However, Ferguson believes he can still turn things around and isn’t ready to put the final nail in the coffin just yet.
Addressing his fighting future during the UFC on ABC post-fight press conference, ‘El Cucuy’ blamed his latest setback on nerves.
“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*ck. 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” (h/t MMA Mania).
Immediately following the fight, Ferguson laid down one glove while speaking to Daniel Cormier inside the Octagon — a decision he later explained.
“I’m kinda like, no, I still wanna fight,” Ferguson added. “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*cking ring.”
Tony Ferguson plans to keep fighting whether or not it’s for the UFC
As for what comes next remains to be seen. Now holding the record for the longest losing streak in UFC history, it’s hard to imagine the promotion will give him another fight. If that’s the case, Tony Ferguson is more than ready to take his act on the road.
“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*cking 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*cking stop competing. That’s just in my blood. That’s just how I am.”