Dana White says double weight cut “impacted” Tony Ferguson in loss to Justin Gaethje

UFC president Dana White believes that a double weight cut “impacted” Tony Ferguson when he lost by knockout to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249.

Ferguson was originally set to fight UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov back in April. However, the event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, yet Ferguson decided to stay on schedule and make weight. The UFC was then able to hold an event in May in Jacksonville and Ferguson was matched up against Gaethje. Ferguson cut weight for a second time in a short period of time and then suffered the worst loss of his UFC career as he was beaten to the punch and TKOed in the fifth.

The loss to Gaethje snapped a 12-fight win streak for Ferguson, and this weekend at UFC 256 he will look to get back to his winning ways when he takes on Charles Oliveira. Speaking to the media ahead of UFC 256, White reminded people not to write off Ferguson just because of one loss. While White said that while he doesn’t want to take anything away from Gaethje that night, he believes the double weight cut hurt Ferguson.

“We all know that Tony’s dangerous in any fight. I don’t want to take anything away from Gaethje, but Tony does some crazy things sometimes. Tony does crazy things that don’t make sense sometimes. And I don’t think that Tony should have made weight when he didn’t have to fight and he then had to turn around and make weight again. I don’t care how tough you are and how long you’ve been doing this, that takes a toll on your body. I believe, personally that it impacted his fight against Gaethje,” White said.

“We’ll see. We’ll see tomorrow night. Oliveira is a bad dude everywhere. On the feet, on the ground, he’s dangerous. Stylistically, you couldn’t have a more fun co-main event than this fight. I mean when we made this fight the day in the matchmaking room we were pumped about it.”

Ferguson is now 36 years old and after seeing Gaethje beat him so decisively, it’s understandable why fans and media have their concerns about him heading into this matchup against Oliveira. However, Ferguson is still one of the greatest lightweights in UFC history who has a 15-2 overall record in the promotion. Writing him off just because of one loss to Gaethje, especially given the circumstances, may be hasty.

Do you agree with Dana White that the double weight cut hurt Tony Ferguson in the Justin Gaethje fight?