Tony Ferguson News

Tom Taylor - April 2, 2018

Yesterday, we learned that Tony Ferguson had been forced out of his UFC 223 showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov with a freak leg injury. Though we all wanted to believe this news was an extremely elaborate April Fools joke, it turns out it wasn’t. It’s all very real. With this latest calamity, Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov have now been scheduled to fight a whopping four times to no avail. Four goddamn times they’ve signed contracts to scrap, and not once have they actually made it into the cage together… you can’t make this stuff up!

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Tony Ferguson’s “freak” injury occured the day after the UFC 223 conference call Earlier tonight devastating news broke that current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson had suffered a knee injury and was forced out of his scheduled UFC 223 headliner with undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Tony Ferguson issues emotional statement following UFC 223 removal Earlier this evening the mixed martial arts world was left shocked by some devastating news that current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson had suffered a knee injury and was forced out of his scheduled UFC 223 headliner with undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Chris Taylor - April 1, 2018

Breaking! Dana White addresses the UFC’s complicated lightweight title picture Earlier this evening news broke that current UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson had suffered a knee injury and was no longer able to compete against Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of next weekend’s UFC 223 event in Brooklyn.

Tom Taylor - March 30, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will finally collide—knock on wood. Ahead of this fight, the world is dividing when it comes to picking a winner. There are those we believe Nurmagomedov will climb to an insane 26-0 by wrestling Ferguson into sawdust, and there are those who feel Ferguson possesses the perfect style to thwart the seemingly unstoppable Russian.

Tom Taylor - March 30, 2018

If Tony Ferguson is able to take out Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 on April 7, it’s more than likely that he’ll battle Conor McGregor in the not too distant future. Apparently, however, Ferguson isn’t all that interested in McGregor. “Conor who?” Ferguson said at a UFC 223 media luncheon this week (via MMAJunkie). “I mean, the guy’s not in the picture. Straight up. I mean, bless his heart. He’s made his money. He’s doing his thing. He’s got an education for his kid. That’s what we all want, right?”

Tom Taylor - March 21, 2018

Tony Ferguson’s training habits have always been… interesting… Ahead of his UFC 223 headlining bout with undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, which will crown the UFC’s new lightweight champion, Ferguson’s training habits have reached new levels of unconventional. Just days after he shared video of himself conditioning his shins by kicking a steel pipe, Ferguson has shared footage of himself working the speed bag in dress pants and dress shoes.

Tom Taylor - March 15, 2018

Yesterday, we got an interesting look into Tony Ferguson’s UFC 223 training camp, as the interim lightweight champ shared a video of himself kicking a steel pipe to condition his shins. While his opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem to be getting quite as –  er… innovative – with his training, it looks like he’s killing it in the gym all the same. On Wednesday afternoon, the undefeated lightweight contender shared some images from his training camp. According to these post, he’s been drilling Cain Velasquez style wrestling, and sparring in standard-size MMA gloves (rather than bag gloves).

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC lightweight title. The understanding is that Conor McGregor, who currently wears the UFC lightweight title, will be stripped somewhere in the immediate buildup to the UFC 223 event. According to Tony Ferguson, however, he and Nurmagomedov will not be battling for the vacant lightweight title. Instead, he claims that this fight will serve as his first title defense. If this is true, the implication is that, once McGregor is stripped, Ferguson will promptly be promoted to undisputed champion, and Nurmagomedov will challenge him for this title.

Tom Taylor - March 12, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will battle for the UFC lightweight title. Not an interim title, but the undisputed title, which is expected to be stripped from Conor McGregor in the coming weeks. Ahead of this fight, Nurmagomedov has referred to it as the “most important fight in UFC today.”

Chris Taylor - March 10, 2018

UFC 223 Fight Card and Start Time The octagon will return to Brooklyn, New York on April 7 for UFC 223.

Justin Golightly - March 10, 2018

Light every candle you have, cross every finger on your hand. We are only four weeks out from UFC 223 and this will be the fourth time we’ve looked forward to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s fight with Tony Ferguson. There is no interim belt. There is only the real belt now, according to Dana White. Nurmagomedov destroyed everyone behind him and waited at White’s car to make what he wanted happen and he has it. Now, we just have to hope and pray that the most important fight right now in the UFC goes down when it’s supposed to. “Ranking is very important for UFC, but for me it’s nothing. For me, important only victory. When I go to the cage, I have to always win and I have to show my best performance. This is most important. About ranking, I don’t care […] Only four weeks before fight, tough opponent, real belt on the line. Ten win streak versus nine win streak. UFC never make this fight. 25 years UFC history, they never make fight like this fight. This is high level fight. This is going to be very good for fans, for guy who gonna take this belt, UFC gonna make money. Everyone gonna be happy because this fight very high level fight and this fight most important fight in UFC today.”

Drake Riggs - March 2, 2018

It appears that we have our concrete answer when it comes to whether or not Conor McGregor will be keeping his UFC lightweight championship. As most know by now, at UFC 223 next month, on April 7, Tony Ferguson will be taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov for Ferguson’s interim title. Although…that is no longer the case as UFC President, Dana White told ESPN today that the fight will be over the undisputed title come fight time as BJPenn.com’s own Chris Taylor first confirmed back in January:

Justin Golightly - February 21, 2018

We’re all waiting, hoping, that Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov both make it to UFC 223 in April. It’s been coming for a long time and — next to Conor McGregor’s long awaited return — this is the best and most highly anticipated lightweight fight possible. Meanwhile, 11 slots under the top of the lightweight mountain, James Vick has eyes on moving up the roster after his win at UFC Austin. He recently weighed in on the UFC 223 fight and predicts that Nurmagomedov comes out on top. “I think Khabib [Nurmagomedov] wins. I think that [Tony] Ferguson’s too content with being on his back. He’s going to get taken down, obviously. Khabib can take down pretty much anyone in the division. Guys can get up, but Tony Ferguson will accept being on his back and throwing elbows and playing rubber guard and he’s not going to win [against Nurmagomedov] like that. Unless he just likes land a big elbow and cuts Khabib from the bottom or something, I don’t see him being able to win a fight off his back. He gets too content with staying on his back instead of trying to get the hell up.”—James Vick speaking to MMA Junkie Radio.

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will return to the Octagon to battle undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed title. What exactly that means for Conor McGregor, who still owns the undisputed title, remains to be seen. From the looks of it however, Ferguson feels it’s about time McGregor put his belt down and walked away. Ferguson went after McGregor on Twitter early on Monday morning, suggesting that the Irishman and his team were scared, and demanding he drop the belt.

Justin Golightly - February 20, 2018

April seems too far away to wait for the highly anticipated clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson at UFC 223. This will be the fourth that these elite lightweights have been expected to fight each other. Somehow, they both keep getting ripped apart and put back together again. That’s why it’s no surprise that Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz has a contingency plan in place on the chance that something unfortunate happens again. This plan he has in mind would also make one particular lightweight very, very happy. “I did not want Tony Ferguson to become the champ, I want him to be the interim champion because fight night, if Tony got hurt then Khabib [Nurmagomeodv] still fights for the undisputed lightweight championship. But if Tony Ferguson is the champ, then Khabib has to fight a regular fight. Now, I’m not trying to give myself a credit as a smart guy, but any manager in my position should think of that. ‘Oh, let’s make Tony Ferguson the champ and Khabib fight him,’ but what happens if Tony got hurt? Khabib’s going to be 30 – 0 with no belt? This is why regardless – if Tony got hurt or Khabib got hurt – it’s a belt on the line. Doesn’t matter. 100-percent [someone will fight for the title].  

Justin Golightly - February 17, 2018

.@RusHammerMMA on @TheNotoriousMMA: “There’s going to be a clear challenger decided April 7th, and that’s who Conor’s going to fight.” Full interview with @niallmcgrath4 on this week’s @talkingbrawls: https://t.co/yoiIESN5gH

Justin Golightly - February 16, 2018

It’s hard to keep track of MMA with everything moving the speed of light, but chances are you were still confused on the UFC’s lightweight title scenario. Dana White seemed intentionally vague about the whole situation, even pissing off one-half of the UFC 223 title fight, Tony Ferguson. The other half of that highly anticipated fight Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem phased though. He just recently said his contract states that he’s fighting for the ‘real’ belt: Conor McGregor’s belt. “When is Conor [McGregor] compete last time in MMA? I forget about this. Long time. He’s a  boxing guy. He’s good to stay in boxing, because you have to compete in MMA, like wrestling, grappling, conditioning 25 minutes — it’s like different. It’s very hard to him. [They say he’s going to come back], but when? They talk about a [Floyd] Mayweather fight. I don’t think he gonna come back. We’re going to fight for [McGregor’s] belt.