Daniel Cormier brutally honest about Tony Ferguson’s potential retirement: “The body isn’t able to respond”

By Josh Evanoff - August 4, 2023

UFC commentator Daniel Cormier believes it might be time for Tony Ferguson to put down the gloves.

Daniel Cormier, Tony Ferguson, UFC

‘El Cucuy’ returned to the octagon over the weekend on the main card of UFC 291. Heading into the contest, the former interim lightweight champion was riding a five-fight losing streak. During that stretch, he faced high-profile names such as Michael Chandler and Nate Diaz. Nonetheless, in his return earlier this month, Tony Ferguson faced Bobby Green.

‘King’ was dropped in the first round, giving fans hope of a potential upset. However, Tony Ferguson was eventually submitted in the third round, his sixth defeat in a row. Following the loss, the former interim lightweight champion went back and forth with Green over an eye poke that he considered to be intentional.

However, eye poke or not, Daniel Cormier believes it might be time for Tony Ferguson to retire. The longtime analyst discussed the UFC 291 loss in a recent edition of the DC and RC podcast. There, he admitted that he doesn’t like telling another man to retire, but that it’s at least time to get lower-level competition.

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Tony Ferguson

“Five fights to the title, that was his catchline all week,” Daniel Cormier stated regarding Tony Ferguson. “But now, he’s lost six in a row. Look man, this guy’s not losing to terrible fighters. He has lost to Diaz, Chandler, [Beneil] Dariush, [Justin] Gaethje, and Bobby Green now. But the reality is that he’s 39 years old. While he has a lot of heart to fight, it does not seem like the body isn’t allowing him to do everything that his mind is telling him to do.”

He continued, “Because of that, and only that, it might be time for him to say to the UFC ‘I want to keep fighting but the competition needs to go down’. Or go fight somewhere else. He’s going to be mad at me about it, but yes, the fight is still there. It just doesn’t seem that the body is able to respond in the way that the mind is telling him to. So I tap in [on Ferguson’s retirement].”

What do you make of these comments about Tony Ferguson? Do you agree with Daniel Cormier?


Topics:

Daniel Cormier Tony Ferguson UFC