Tag: Tony Ferguson

Michael Bisping defends Paddy Pimblett, Tony Ferguson matchmaking at UFC 296: ‘He will fight tooth and nail’

Michael Bisping defends Paddy Pimblett and Tony Ferguson fight at UFC 296Former UFC middleweight champion, Michael Bisping discusses the recently announced fight between Paddy Pimblett. As in the natural order of the sport, the young up-and-comer, Pimblett, will be fed a notable name who older and past their best – Ferguson. Its likely if Ferguson has not had success earlier on in the promotion, he would […]

Michael Bisping defends Paddy Pimblett and Tony Ferguson fight at UFC 296

Former UFC middleweight champion, Michael Bisping discusses the recently announced fight between Paddy Pimblett.

As in the natural order of the sport, the young up-and-comer, Pimblett, will be fed a notable name who older and past their best – Ferguson. Its likely if Ferguson has not had success earlier on in the promotion, he would have been cut as the 39-year-old is currently riding a six-fight losing streak and has no won a fight in over three years.

The fight announcement has not gone without criticism as it appears to be a clear attempt to get Pimblett, who has been positioned as a future star, an easy win to get him over.

Michael Bisping discusses matchup

Bisping however is confused around the backlash, the UFC employee with unsurprisingly come to the defence of the matchmaking.

“A lot of people on social media are talking sh*t about this fight, and I don’t understand that,” Bisping said via his YouTube channel. “Paddy ‘The Baddy’ has gotta come back. You’ve gotta give him a credible opponent. Tony Ferguson’s a wild motherf*cker. It’s as simple as that. He’s a fighter, man. He will fight to the nail. You literally have to finish Tony Ferguson to get him to stop coming forward. There is no quit in that man.” (H/T MMA News)

Bisping continued, saying that while Ferguson is old and suffered damage, he is still dangerous and will be a live underdog in the fight.

“At 39 years old, yeah, of course he’s taken a lot of damage. But he also has a lot of experience,” Bisping continued. “And against Bobby Green, he was doing okay… Tony Ferguson is still a dangerous man, make no mistake about that. And it’s a really, really tough spot for Paddy Pimblett. It’s a lose-lose. Already there’s people out there talking sh*t, saying, ‘They’ve just given Paddy somebody easy.’ Tony Ferguson is not an easy fight for anyone.”

Michael Bisping talks

Do you agree with Michael Bisping?

Paddy Pimblett and the UFC facing backlash following ‘Shameless’ Tony Ferguson matchmaking

Paddy PimblettFight fans were less than thrilled to hear that Paddy Pimblett’s return to the Octagon will come against a fighter currently riding a six-fight losing streak. By the time he steps back into the cage on December 16, it will have been more than a year since Paddy Pimblett competed. UFC 282 saw ‘The Baddy’ […]

Paddy Pimblett

Fight fans were less than thrilled to hear that Paddy Pimblett’s return to the Octagon will come against a fighter currently riding a six-fight losing streak.

By the time he steps back into the cage on December 16, it will have been more than a year since Paddy Pimblett competed. UFC 282 saw ‘The Baddy’ score his fourth-straight win under the UFC banner, though it came with a heaping dose of controversy as virtually everyone had Pimblett losing his three-round scrap with Jared ‘Flash’ Gordon at the event.

Suffering a foot injury during the bout, Pimblett has been laid up for all of 2023 thus far, but that didn’t stop him from issuing a challenge to Gordon, suggesting the two fighters could run it back and settle the debate once and for all.

Instead, Paddy Pimblett will return against one of the lightweight division’s most revered fighters, Tony Ferguson. UFC CEO Dana White made the announcement, confirming that the pair will compete as part of the promotion’s still-developing UFC 296 card in December.

Fans were quick to call the UFC’s matchmaking into question considering Pimblett is a highly-touted prospect riding a six-fight win streak while Ferguson finds himself on a six-fight skid.

Some have accused the promotion of putting ‘El Cucuy‘ out to pasture as he works through the last fights on his contract while others question what either man has to gain by fighting one another. If Paddy Pimblett scores another win inside the Octagon, as many believe he will, ‘The Baddy’ will have beaten a man who is a shell of his former self. If Ferguson manages to come out on top, he’s only beaten an unranked prospect. Not to mention the irreparable damage that Pimblett could face by taking an L against Ferguson.

No matter your opinion on Pimblett vs. Ferguson, you can’t deny that UFC 296 is shaping up to be another can’t-miss night of fights. This week, we learned that two UFC title fights will co-headline the card, the biggest being Leon Edwards’ long-awaited welterweight title defense against division gatekeeper Colby Covington. In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja will put his newly won flyweight title on the line against a familiar foe in Brandon Royval.

Dana White also revealed that Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson will return this December to take on rising undefeated prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Which fight are you looking forward to seeing at UFC 296 this winter?

Fight Fans Slam the Booking of Paddy Pimblett vs. Tony Ferguson at UFC 296

Official – Ex-Champion Tony Ferguson set to fight Paddy Pimblett in December return at UFC 296

Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett set for UFC 296 on December 16. officialFormer interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson is in line for his second Octagon walk of the year – and he will do so in the final month of 2023, meeting the returning Liverpool grappler, Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 on December 16. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Per UFC CEO, Dana White, […]

Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett set for UFC 296 on December 16. official

Former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson is in line for his second Octagon walk of the year – and he will do so in the final month of 2023, meeting the returning Liverpool grappler, Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 on December 16. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Per UFC CEO, Dana White, former interim lightweight titleholder, Tony Ferguson, who will attempt to snap a disappointing six-fight losing skid in his return to the Octagon in December, will welcome former Cage Warriors featherweight champion, Pimblett back to the Octagon following a lengthy lay-off through a foot injury.

Dana White confirms Tony Ferguson’s clash with Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296

Furthermore, as revealed earlier today, White confirmed a welterweight fight between former two-time division championship challenger, Stephen Thompson, and the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov for the promotion’s final pay-per-view event of the year.

Without a victory since a 2019 doctor’s stoppage TKO win over recent Hall of Fame inductee, Donald Cerrone, Oxnard native, Ferguson featured on the main card of UFC 291 back in July, dropping a late third round arm-triangle choke submission loss to incoming UFC Vegas 80 headliner, Bobby Green.

As for Pimblett, the outspoken Liverpudlian grappler improved his undefeated Octagon record to four straight fights back in December of last year at UFC 282, taking home a hugely-controversial and contentious unanimous decision win over Queens striker, Jared Gordon in the event’s co-headliner.

Despite suffering a sixth consecutive loss to the aforenoted, Green, veteran fan-favorite, Ferguson will continue to keep the ball rolling inside the Octagon despite recent calls for him to hang up his gloves from active competition – off the back of consecutive losses to Nate Diaz, Michael Chandler, Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje.

UFC 296 takes place on December 16. from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada – with an undisputed welterweight title fight between champion, Leon Edwards, and former interim champion, Colby Covington slated to take main event honors. 

Can Tony Ferguson snap his six-fight losing skid against Paddy Pimblett in December?

Josh Thomson makes an emotional plea to Tony Ferguson: ‘You need to have a reality check’

Tony FergusonFormer Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson is pleading with Tony Ferguson to take a long hard look in the mirror before continuing his mixed martial arts career. Tony Ferguson is currently riding a six-fight losing streak, with four of those losses coming by either submission or knockout. It all started in 2020 when ‘El Cucuy’ […]

Tony Ferguson

Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson is pleading with Tony Ferguson to take a long hard look in the mirror before continuing his mixed martial arts career.

Tony Ferguson is currently riding a six-fight losing streak, with four of those losses coming by either submission or knockout. It all started in 2020 when ‘El Cucuy’ suffered a brutal one-sided defeat at the hands of current BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje at UFC 249. Since then, Ferguson has fallen to Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, and most recently, Bobby Green.

Despite the string of defeats, Tony Ferguson has insisted that his career is far from over, a sentiment that many fans and fellow fighters tend to disagree with. That includes ex-Bellator standout Josh Thomson, who looked back on his own setbacks in MMA and offered some words of advice for the struggling lightweight.

“When I lost two in a row, I had never lost two in a row,” Thomson said on the WEIGHING IN podcast. “I was like ‘What the hell is going on?’… it baffled the sh*t outta me. This guy has lost six in a row. This sport, like any sport, is about confidence. That confidence is what gets you to the next fight, makes you push a little harder when you’re behind on the judges’ cards.

“You need to have a reality check. You have to understand how to reel it in, because you’re the only one in charge of your relationships with everyone…I’ve had those conversations with myself a lot, because you don’t realize it. I become a little emotional, it’s a little f*cked up, but I care about all these fighters” (h/t MMA News).

More than four years removed from his last win, Tony Ferguson is still a big fan favorite which is likely why the UFC hasn’t cut ties with the former interim world champion. But at some point, either ‘El Cucuy‘ or his employer will need to make a very tough decision about his future in the fight game.

Tony Ferguson eyes grudge fight after call out from UFC star Conor McGregor: ‘Sign on the dotted line coward’

Tony Ferguson eyes fight with Conor McGregor sign on the dotted line coward UFCVowing to “end” former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson sometime in the future, ex-two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor may have just found another willing dance partner to go alongside Michael Chandler – with the former all ears for a potential showdown. McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight champion and featherweight titleholder under the scrutiny of the […]

Tony Ferguson eyes fight with Conor McGregor sign on the dotted line coward UFC

Vowing to “end” former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson sometime in the future, ex-two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor may have just found another willing dance partner to go alongside Michael Chandler – with the former all ears for a potential showdown.

McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight champion and featherweight titleholder under the scrutiny of the UFC, has been sidelined from active competition since he suffered a gruesome fracture of his left tibia and fibula back in July 2021.

Yet to book his return to the Octagon in the time since, the recently turned 35-year-old has stressed his desire to make a quickfire comeback in December of this year at UFC 296, as he’s expected to draw the aforenoted, Chandler at the welterweight limit.

However, earlier this week, the Crumlin striker also piqued the interest of the above-mentioned former interim lightweight gold holder, Ferguson, after vowing to “end” the Californian in the wake of years of links between the two for a battle.

“I’m gonna end you and badly,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account. “I’ve not forgot.”

Tony Ferguson welcomes showdown with Conor McGregor next

And grabbing the attention of the faltering, Ferguson, McGregor was urged to put pen to paper on a bout agreement to land a fight.

“Ahh, there’s my b*tch,” Tony Ferguson posted aimed at Conor McGregor on his official X account. “Took a few to get you attention ehh??! Remember when you used to work for me & I fired your ass for not doing your job/ When you’re doing singing your legal issues, sign on the dotted line coward -champ.”

Suffering losses in each of his last six Octagon walk, veteran fan-favorite, Ferguson most recently suffered a third round arm-triangle submission loss to division staple, Bobby Green at UFC 291 back in July in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Would you like to see Tony Ferguson fight Conor McGregor next?