Tony Ferguson News

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.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2017

Whenever a big fight looms on the horizon, MMA’s dedicated fans all chip in to add to the hype. We get fiery debates on social media. We get awesome, fan-made promotional videos. We get fantastic fan-made fight posters – the very best of which come from the artist known as BossLogic. BossLogic’s latest fight poster, which highlights a possible UFC 219 scrap between UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson, is one of his best yet. The poster has a bit of everything: a stoic McGregor calmly clutching the belt, a shadowy “El Cucuy”, creeping up behind him…

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 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.

Russell Ess - October 11, 2017

Over the weekend at UFC 216, Tony Ferguson won the UFC interim lightweight championship title by submitting Kevin Lee. Now, “El Cucuy” is ready to unify the belts with the undisputed UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and according to Ferguson, the time is ticking for “The Notorious”

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 10, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee stepped into the Octagon to battle for the UFC interim lightweight title. Despite a rough first round, Ferguson surged back in the second, and ultimately locked up a choke in the third. In the days leading up to this fight, much was made of Kevin Lee’s massive cut down to the fight’s 156-pound limit. When Lee barely made weight for this title fight, discussions about his massive cut down to lightweight became even more rampant.

Russell Ess - October 10, 2017

Being a fighter and commentator in the UFC can sometimes put you in an odd position as calling the fights might strain the relationship you have with some of your fellow fighters. This seems to be the case with Daniel Cormier, who commentated the UFC 216 broadcast and apparently Tony Ferguson who fought Kevin Lee in the main event did not like what Cormier had to say during the broadcast. Ferguson won the UFC interim lightweight title by submitting Lee with a triangle choke in the third round and then fired some tweets at D.C. while interacting with a bunch of  fellow Twitter users on Monday

Justin Golightly - October 10, 2017

Tony Ferguson did it. He marched through a long hard road out of hell and shined in the moment he needed it most. After submitting Kevin Lee to become the interim UFC lightweight champion, he did what anyone would do: Call out Conor McGregor. After all, he’s the real champion, he’s never defended a belt, and it’s the biggest fight to make at lightweight besides Nate Diaz. McGregor’s coach recently weighed in on the match-up and he doesn’t like Ferguson’s chances after the two wars with another durable, rangy fighter who’s slick on the mat. “[Tony Ferguson]’s good, obviously. He wouldn’t be the interim champion if he wasn’t good. His style is, you know, it’s not traditional, it’s a bit unorthodox and stuff, but I just honestly think that Conor [McGregor]’s going to be way too clean for Ferguson. If Ferguson tries to stand with Conor for an extended period of time it will be lights out, in my opinion. You know, he’s tough as well, he’s tough and durable, so he may take a couple of smacks, but at the end of the day Conor’s going to be way too clean and too technical to… he won’t get touched. That’s my opinion. But yeah, it will be an interesting one and it will be an exciting fight as well because Ferguson does come to fight and he’s aggressive, he goes in, he looks to finish fights, so it will be exciting. But yeah, without a doubt if he wants to stand and bang with Conor it’ll be lights out fairly quick, I think.”

Tom Taylor - October 10, 2017

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 216, Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee to capture the UFC interim lightweight title. In the wake of this title win, Ferguson quickly set his sights on a title unification battle with undisputed champion Conor McGregor, and according to UFC President Dana White, this is indeed the direction things are headed. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, the new champ Tony Ferguson discussed his desired bout with McGregor. Apparently, he’s taking White’s word, and believes the UFC will attempt to book this fight.

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 lightweight stars 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 round. While Lee performed admirably against Ferguson, it was initially a bit of a surprise when he was announced as Ferguson’s opponent. The expectation instead was that the UFC would make its latest attempt at booking an interim title fight between Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov – a booking that has fallen through many times in the past.

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:

Justin Golightly - October 7, 2017

No matter how you feel about Tony Ferguson, whether you think he’s ‘weird’ or just don’t  like him, you can admit that he’s just different. If he’s not in workout clothes, he’s dressed like he just walked out of The Continental hotel with a new tactical suit. And what’s the deal with the shades? Then, he starts talking. Conversation jumps from subject to subject, a metaphor might slip out and confuse you, it’s just like his fighting style: All over the place. When asked to comment on his opponent’s criticisms of his style, he spoke like we’re witnessing an evolution.  “It’s very intellectual. The reason why you guys say [my style]’s weird is because you don’t understand it. It’s f-cking genius. Let me tell you, it’s so far past your guys’ heads it’s not even funny, because this is the next stage in everybody’s evolution. I’ve been working on this since 2008; actually, before that. I said I had a double doctorate in athletics, I’m working on my triple.”

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.