Tony Ferguson News

Tom Taylor - November 13, 2017

UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has always had plenty to say about undisputed lightweight champ Conor McGregor. In the wake of McGregor’s chaotic brush with a referee and commissioner at last Friday’s Bellator 187 event in Ireland, that trend continued. Over the weekend, Ferguson directed yet another jab at McGregor, once again referring to the Irish star as “McNuggets,” and using the hashtag “#LookingForAWayOut.”

Russell Ess - November 10, 2017

UFC President Dana White is insistent that Conor McGregor’s next opponent is the interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson. While the matchup seems to be made, negotiations are in place with McGregor’s team and the UFC. After coming off a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather where White said “The Notorious” made $80 million, things seem a bit harder to negotiate with McGregor at the moment as he stated he wants to be a co-promoter with the UFC for his next fight.

Justin Golightly - November 9, 2017

News hit last night that Frankie Edgar unfortunately had to drop out of his title fight with Max Holloway at UFC 218 because of a facial injury that requires surgery. Immediately there was an incredible swarm of fighters coming out to try and take advantage of Edgar’s misfortune. Cub Swanson was the first on the buzzer, hoping to avenge his loss and finally get a chance at gold. Both Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas have also expressed interest in leaving their fight together at UFC Winnipeg to potentially capture Holloway’s UFC featherweight title. His management just released a statement of the names in consideration, but stress that the champ is down to fight anyone. When you become the champ the right way, the division is cleaned out… Choices are limited but we’ll fight anyone. Cub, Ortega, Ferguson, Conor… we’re just waiting on the call. Respect to @frankieedgar who truly deserved this fight and wishing him a speedy recovery. #blessedera #ufc218 #represented #Repost @blessedmma ・・・ Injuries are part of this fight game. Frankies the man. Wish him a speedy recovery. Detroit, you guys are a bunch of tough mfers. I met many of you last month when we visited. You guys deserve the best fight card of the year and youre still gonna get it. I’m fighting no matter what. Santa is still coming early to Detroit, so get ready. Malice in the palace part 2 if we have to. I’ll see you soon.

Russell Ess - October 31, 2017

Conor McGregor fans are surely curious as to who and when the current UFC lightweight champion will be fighting next. With Dana White saying that newly crowned UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson is the next match to make for McGregor, the UFC President is hoping for “The Notorious” to return to the Octagon before the end of the year. However, it all likely comes down to what Conor McGregor wants to do.

Justin Golightly - October 31, 2017

Even before Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor boxed, Nate Diaz was the clear choice for the champ champ’s UFC return. Slowly, as Diaz haunts the division out of sight, the front-runner became Tony Ferguson. Dan Hardy has said Tony Ferguson is the fight, Eddie Bravo wants his protege to have the shot, even Dillon Danis wants McGregor to fight T-Ferg. None of their opinions though, mean quite as much as this one. Both Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson’s manager Audie Attar says their fight will definitely happen, he just didn’t reveal if it’s next or not. “The sport is one where they’re going to compete. If you have clients in the same weight class, and they’re the top of the division, they’re going to meet. With Tony [Ferguson] and Conor [McGregor], it’s inevitable. You have the lightweight champ and the interim lightweight champ, so that’s a fight that’s naturally going to happen. I can’t say [who McGregor will fight next]. Here’s what I will tell you: Tony earned a shot at the belt. He won the interim lightweight title.”

Justin Golightly - October 28, 2017

You may remember that Joe Duffy is a former opponent of Conor McGregor, the UFC used this fact as promotion when they first signed the Irish lightweight. Up until meeting Nate Diaz, Duffy was the last man to not only submit McGregor, but beat him in MMA. That was seven years ago back in Cage Warriors, but Duffy still can’t escape being forever entwined with McGregor. He was recently asked who the champ champ should fight next. His answer, like many others, is Tony Ferguson. “I think for the ranking’s sake, I think obviously Conor [McGregor] against [Tony] Ferguson is the right match. It kind of legitimizes the rankings again. I believe that’s probably the right match at the minute. It will stabilize the division again and at least we’ll have a pecking order again so you know where you stand and what you need to do to get to the top of the pecking order.”

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

If Conor McGregor campaigned for a fight against the winner of Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, then he’d probably get it. You’re talking about a fighter who pick whoever he wants out of thin air and fight then. All of this taken into consideration, it’s easy to understand why it’s so hard to figure out his next move. Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson has an interim belt he says might as well be the real thing, something Dan Hardy thinks McGregor needs to take care of. Not just because it makes sense, but to silence his critics. “What I would like to see him do is unite the belts. I think Tony Ferguson is definitely deserving of that title shot against Conor McGreogr and I don’t like two belts floating around in the division for too long. I think that the interim title is a placeholder for the real title. You shouldn’t have that for very long. So, it makes sense for McGregor to come back and defend the belt against Tony Ferguson. Obviously the money fight is [Nate] Diaz, everybody wants to see that, including me. But, for the integrity of the sport and for McGregor’s legacy, he needs to solidify himself as a champion that would defend his belt, which he has not done yet. He’s getting a lot of heat for that from the fans and I think now he’s got a bank account full of cash. He doesn’t really need to worry too much about that now. He can focus on the things he wants to achieve as an athlete.”

Justin Golightly - October 20, 2017

It’s basically a waiting game now to see what Conor McGregor decides to do, or who he’s going to fight next. Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson just earned a black belt to go with his interim UFC lightweight title. Unless your carrying a belt, most fighters at the top have a hard time getting an opponent, but McGregor could literally pick anyone he wanted. Eddie Bravo has gone on record with us that he thinks Ferguson is the match-up to book, he recently talked more about it in a new interview. “It has to be Conor [McGregor]. It has to be. I mean, it’s either Conor or vacate. You need to defend or vacate, that’s what it’s all about. […] Think about where [Tony Ferguson]’s at right now. He’s got the belt. It’s the interim belt but he’s got the belt. It doesn’t look like Conor wants any part of Tony. It doesn’t sound like he’s interested in him at all. He’s never been interested in Tony because he knows Tony’s mind. He knows that Tony can’t be broken mentally. Who better to coach Tony than himself? That’s the way I look at it. It seems like he doesn’t because he’s not calling him out. He’s not responding. So, I can only assume that that means he’s not that interested.”

Justin Golightly - October 19, 2017

Just a couple of weeks ago, Tony Ferguson reached the peak of his career so far by winning the interim UFC lightweight title. He perplexed us with his talk, his training methods, and his perpetual-shade wearing. Ferguson tried to convince us he is on a different level, something that he proved at UFC 216. If finally having a world title around his waist wasn’t enough, Eddie Bravo just presented him with the highest honor he could give anyone: A 10th Planet black belt. It wasn’t just something Bravo ordered from the internet though, this belt is truly one of a kind.

Tom Taylor - October 19, 2017

Over the last few weeks, UFC undisputed lightweight champ Conor McGregor and interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson have each shared some Grand Theft Auto inspired pictures to their social media channels. McGregor was first to do so. In his post, he appeared to address Ferguson by using the simple caption “Tony.”

Russell Ess - October 18, 2017

Conor McGregor fans are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the Irishman’s Octagon return. It has been almost one year since we last saw the combat sports superstar fighting in the UFC Octagon. McGregor last fought in the boxing ring in his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather in August where he lost by TKO in the 10th round. After collecting the biggest payday of his career fighting Mayweather, many are expecting to see McGregor fighting back in the Octagon.

Russell Ess - October 16, 2017

Conor McGregor fans are all anxiously awaiting to hear what will come next for the current UFC lightweight champion. Coming off his professional boxing debut where he lost to Floyd Mayweather by TKO in the 10th round, many are expecting to see “The Notorious” defend his UFC title in the Octagon. Last week, UFC President Dana White addressed rumors that McGregor was in talks with the WWE for a wrestling match in 2018. White showed a text message conversation that he had with Vince McMahon that debunked any of that talk.

Justin Golightly - October 15, 2017

Since before Conor McGregor stepped into the ring to box Floyd Mayweather, the question on millions of minds was when he was coming back to the UFC and who would he fight. It was looking like finishing the trilogy with Nate Diaz was a high priority, but now it seems like a fight with newly crowned interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson could be in the plans. As of right now, all we have to go off of is a single image that McGregor posted and a weird slideshow in response by Ferguson. Other than that, Dana White has been saying it’s a fight that has to happen. Regardless of how close are far the match-up is, early odds have been released and right now it’s a close fight with Tony Ferguson trailing behind as a slight underdog. The sports book @unibet has listed odds on @TheNotoriousMMA and @TonyFergusonXT

Justin Golightly - October 14, 2017

Only Conor McGregor could post a single word on social media with a five minute Grand Theft Auto art edit and have it blow up. Yesterday, McGregor sent out an image of his head and tattoos plastered on the popular video game’s art. It featured him speedboating away with tons of cash and his title belts in the background. He captioned the image ‘Tony’ and the internet did the rest. Of course, Tony Ferguson couldn’t let that stand. So, he posted a video of him in all sorts of GTA-inspired situations along with… well, just watch. “Zero 😎Fucks” 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽#DefendorVacate MF’er 😎🖕🏽#TonyFergusonMMA SnapJitsu™ #SnapDownCity This Is My Mat. pic.twitter.com/9aMmzAB3z5

Justin Golightly - October 12, 2017

After all the animosity between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee in the lead-up to UFC 216, the end result couldn’t be more classy by both opponents. After Ferguson tapped out Lee in a triangle choke, both men embraced and exchanged words. It wasn’t an easy fight for either of them and both men earned each other’s respect. Kevin Lee continued this respect in his post-fight interviews. Lately, he’s opened up and has said Tony Ferguson deserves to fight Conor McGregor. “[Tony Ferguson versus Conor McGregor] should happen, It should. In any other sport or in any other circumstance or situation, that’s the fight to make happen. But, like really, speaking as a fan, as a fan of the sport, I don’t know man, I don’t know if Conor wants those problems. Tony [Ferguson] is a motherf-cker. I said it before the fight, Tony can fight and he can take a helluva shot. I hit him with some big shots that I thought would like faze him or cut him, but the man just wouldn’t quit. He’s got no quit in him.”

Russell Ess - October 12, 2017

UFC 216 took place over the weekend with the UFC interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee showcased as the main event. It was an exciting fight where Ferguson ultimately got the job done in the third round by submitting Lee with a triangle choke. Following the fight, Ferguson took to Twitter to interact with fellow Twitter users and had it out for Daniel Cormier, who commentated the UFC 216 broadcast.

Justin Golightly - October 11, 2017

Conor McGregor has now taken the role of Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. He just sits back and watches the battles play out until he finally decides one is worthy enough to fight him. Of course, the only name that has seemed close according to rumors, reports and wallets was Nate Diaz. That was, until Tony Ferguson became the interim lightweight champion. Dana White said he and McGregor would be the next fight. Both Ferguson and Diaz are rangy, durable fighters, but Michael Bisping thinks Ferguson is the tougher fight for the Irish ‘champ champ’. “Here’s the thing, [Nate] Diaz is saying he wants $20 million to fight Conor [McGregor] for the third time, which sounds insane. It is insane but realistically, if that was boxing, for an event that size, a fight that big for the PPV numbers, I feel like the boxer would get that money or close to it. […] But $20 million, I think what he’s doing there is pricing himself out of the market, simple as that. That’s why Dana is pushing the [Tony] Ferguson fight. Dana, by going out there at the press conference and saying publicly that Ferguson has to fight Conor, that takes the momentum away from Diaz so that’s gonna soften his stance on the 20 million. Maybe he’s just using that as a negotiation tactic but I think if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll say, ‘F-ck it, I’m not fighting then,’ and unfortunately, there is another good fight there with Ferguson vs. McGregor.”

Tom Taylor - October 11, 2017

Now that the action-packed UFC 216 is in the rear-view, the UFC has updated its official rankings. As expected, main event interim lightweight title winner Tony Ferguson has entered the UFC pound-for-pound list, and has also usurped the number-one spot at lightweight. The UFC flyweight rankings also experienced a major shakeup thanks to long-time contender Ian McCall’s exit from the UFC roster. Here’s the UFC rankings as they stand: