Tony Ferguson News

Tom Taylor - October 8, 2017

Last night, the UFC touched down in Las Vegas, Nevada with the absolutely thrilling UFC 216. In the main event, we saw streaking lightweights Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee collide for the UFC interim lightweight title. Though Lee started strong, nearly finishing Ferguson in the first, Ferguson surged back in the later rounds, ultimately putting Lee away with a choke in the third. With this win, Ferguson is now the UFC interim lightweight champion. From here, the widespread hope is that he will battle undisputed champion Conor McGregor somewhere down the road. Yet given that McGregor has potentially more lucrative scraps with Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and even Paulie Malignaggi available, nothing is certain.

Tom Taylor - October 8, 2017

Well that escalated quickly ….@TonyFergusonXT #UFC216 pic.twitter.com/B5zJBv4dOV — UFC (@ufc) October 8, 2017

Chris Taylor - October 7, 2017

Tony Ferguson became the UFC’s interim lightweight champion in the headliner of tonight’s UFC 216 event in Las Vegas by scoring a third-round submission victory over Kevin Lee. Here is how the pros reacted to Tony Ferguson’s title claiming victory:

Chris Taylor - October 7, 2017

A interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee headlined tonight’s UFC 216 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas. Round one begins and Kevin Lee comes forward and lands a head kick. Tony shakes it off and circles out. Kevin lands a nice right hand over the top. Ferguson with a low kick. Kevin just misses with another right hand. Tony leaps in and lands a kick to the body. Lee charges forward with a right. He lands another right that knocks Ferguson to the floor. Tony pops back up and cracks Lee coming in. Kevin goes down to one knee and then gets back up. Good start to this one. Lee with a nice left hook. Ferguson comes forward with a front kick. Lee shoots in and scores a takedown. Ferguson tries to sweep but Lee winds up on top. Ferguson utilizing rubber guard. He looks for a should lock but Lee escapes and winds up on top and in full guard. Lee with some ground and pound from the top. Lee moves to north-south position. One minute remains. Lee moves to mount and begins raining down some big shots on Ferguson. Huge elbows and now punches from the mount. Lee is all over him. Round one comes to an end.

Russell Ess - October 6, 2017

The weigh-ins for UFC 216 were filled with suspense as Kevin Lee waited till the very last moment to weigh in for his UFC interim title fight against Tony Ferguson. Lee needed a towel to weigh in as he took off all of his clothing to ensure no extra weight was on him and stepped on the scale and tried to wipe any remaining sweat off his body. The “Motown Phenom” had a look of confidence as he stared down at the official operating the scale and even nodded his head and made a fist.

Justin Golightly - October 6, 2017

We’re just an hour removed from one of the most stressful weigh-ins in UFC history. If you want to go through the suspenseful play-by-play, you can relive the entire situation right here. After the sweat and the panic, Kevin Lee walked slowly to the scale with literally seconds left to weigh-in. Unfortunately, he was one single pound off and title fights do not allow for a one pound allowance. With doctor’s approval, he was given the go-ahead to safely lose one pound with in an hour. He then went back and performed the magic: The interim title fight is on. Spotted in lobby a few minutes ago: Kevin Lee, headphones on, walking with his team, holding his coach’s arm for support. #UFC216 weigh-ins

Justin Golightly - October 6, 2017

Back during the build-up for UFC 209, Tony Ferguson called himself the new John Wick. Well, we’re starting to believe him. First of all, he’s been secluded at a camp he built himself in California’s Big Bear. It’s secret, there is no huge team surrounding him and glossy posters of his face. What we get from his camp are personal Instagram videos of him doing ridiculous things: Elbowing speed bags, yoga, integrating Capoeira striking, you name it, he’s done it. You’re talking about a guy that looks at a laser maze as a active rest training device. So, it should be no surprise when it came to his UFC 216 open workout yesterday. Yet still, we’re surprised. .@TonyFergusonXT showed off his slick moves at the #UFC216 Open Workouts 👀. Full video: https://t.co/NJxWyRHjTs pic.twitter.com/yMwgmVjdrg

Justin Golightly - October 6, 2017

Fighting any opponent is more than just what they can do to you in the Octagon. It always has been. As the sport grew more popular, now it’s more different than ever. Kevin Lee just didn’t have to deal with preparing for Tony Ferguson’s unorthodox techniques, but endure social media trash talk, being around him for media obligations, and dozens and dozens of interviews. It’s a normal thing to not like what you’re opponent says, but much like Conor McGregor, going through the war of words with Tony Ferguson is a whole different ball game because of how… unique he is. “Yeah, [Tony Ferguson]’s a weirdo. Like I said, I hit you with facts. He comes up with all these scenarios in his head. I told him, he’s gotta’ stop smoking whatever it is you’s smoking, bro. I don’t know, he be on some — I just let him do what he do. He talk about how I’m a fake and all this but, let’s be honest, the man’s a Mexican from Michigan and he can’t even speak Spanish. So, it is what it is, he’s a weird dude. I don’t really like going back and forth with him. It’s kind of frustrating, I think you can even see it on my face.”

Russell Ess - October 5, 2017

Tony Ferguson has the biggest fight of his career in just a couple of days as he is set to take on Kevin Lee for the UFC interim lightweight title. Ferguson and Lee headline UFC 216, which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. The winner of the fight and the interim title should have the best chance of fighting current undisputed UFC lightweight champion, Conor McGregor. If negotiated right, any opponent who fights McGregor should be getting the biggest payday of their career as the draw of “The Notorious” seemingly can’t be matched by any other fighter on the roster at the moment.

Russell Ess - October 4, 2017

Tony Ferguson has the biggest fight of his life coming up this weekend as he is set to take on Kevin Lee in their UFC interim lightweight title fight at UFC 216. Ferguson and Lee are scheduled to headline the card with Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson set to defend his title and perhaps set the UFC record for most consecutive title defenses in history as he meets Ray Borg in the center of the Octagon in the co-main event.

Tom Taylor - October 4, 2017

Originally, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was expected to attempt his potentially history-making 11th-straight title defense in the main event of UFC 215. Yet when his opponent, Ray Borg, was forced out of the fight at the last-minute with an injury, this flyweight title fight was rescheduled for UFC 216. Given that the original UFC 216 headliner, a fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, is for the interim lightweight title, many people expected Borg and Johnson’s legitimate title fight to usurp the top spot on the bill. Instead, however, Johnson and Borg were shoehorned into the co-main event, under the interim title fight on the bill.

Justin Golightly - September 30, 2017

Logging onto Twitter usually ends up this way. You log on and everything is all cool, then before you know it, you’re locked in an argument with someone. Just like something we’ve all experienced, Justin Gaethje tweeting out to Tony Ferguson started out pretty tame. Gaethje responded to a tweet of Ferguson’s with a joke about ankle picks. That was a line used by Ferguson on Thursday, after he and UFC heavyweight Fabricio Werdum almost threw down at lunch. It didn’t stop there though, next thing you know is one fighter’s leg is going to get broke and the other is getting their career ended.

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

With the interim UFC lightweight title fight moving forward with Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee, we at least further distanced ourselves from the heartbreak of Khabib Nurmagomedov. We’ve been robbed of seeing this Russian sambo destroyer in action for awhile now, but the UFC has been trying to make a fight with him and Ferguson happen since 2015. Only one of these instances could be attributed to Tony Ferguson. However, this recent news reopens all those old wounds. Sean Shelby recently revealed that it could have been Nurmagomedov fighting for the interim title at Madison Square Garden, but he turned it down. “Just to clear things up, a fight was offered to [Khabib] Nurmagomedov on November 4th [UFC 217] and at that point we were trying to put cards together towards the end of the year. I was informed that he could not make that date. He probably wouldn’t be able to fight until at least December. That left Tony [Ferguson] without a dance partner and it’s not just about one guy, it’s about two guys.”

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

Yesterday during a peaceful media lunch, Tony Ferguson and Fabricio Werdum nearly came to blows. Despite the ridiculous difference — nearly comical — difference in size, Ferguson never backed down from the big man. He even threatened him with an ‘ankle pick,’ which was a great line and a contrast to the foreign obscenities and slurs Werdum threw at Ferguson. None other than Mark Hunt caught wind of the altercation and had to weigh-in on the incident. Given Hunt and Werdum’s past, this comes of no surprise. 

Justin Golightly - September 29, 2017

Tony Ferguson are just a week away from going to war together for the interim UFC lightweight title. Usually, this would give the victor a one-way ticket to fight the champion of their division in order to unify the titles. However, this isn’t happening, at least not yet. Every mention of Conor McGregor’s return fight suggests he’ll be fighting Nate Diaz to defend his lightweight title, maybe as early as March 2018. This is something that Ferguson just doesn’t think is right. “The next fight for Conor [McGregor] should be whoever wins this interim lightweight title. Regardless of winning or losing this, myself or if it’s Kevin Lee, that b-tch needs to defend or vacate and he needs to unify that belt. Anything else, with as far as him trying to fight Nate [Diaz] and everything else, that’s the bullsh-t rankings and everything else that the UFC stands for just [going] out the window, man.”

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

There was a media lunch today for UFC 216. It was outside the fresh air. Warm, but pleasant. Birds chirped, fruit and tea were served, it was nice. However, a can of whoop ass was also on the verge of being served before the meal even got started. Tony Ferguson was sitting at the table with Fabricio Werdum when the former UFC heavyweight champion interrupted Ferguson, then things just devolved into chaos from there. A blitz of English, Spanish and Portuguese exploded in front of the camera. Whether you can understand any of it or not, you can tell it was all bad. https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/913503884425023489

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

In just one week, Tony Ferguson will fight Kevin Lee for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 216. It’s the biggest fight of both of their careers so far, but Ferguson was ready to throwdown with another lightweight earlier today. Eddie Alvarez made some comments about the interim title scrap, Tony Ferguson was quick to respond saying the former champion wouldn’t last a round with him.

Russell Ess - September 28, 2017

Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson are set to headline UFC 216 as the two will fight for the UFC interim lightweight title. There is also another title fight on the card as Demetrious Johnson will look to set a UFC record and surpass Anderson Silva for the most consecutive UFC title defenses, taking on Ray Borg in the co-main event. Interestingly, Johnson and Borg were set to headline UFC 215 but the bout was canceled just days before the fight date with Borg being sick and deemed unfit to compete by doctors.