Tony Ferguson News

Tom Taylor - October 8, 2017

Last night, in the main event of the stacked UFC 216, streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson finally earned himself a piece of UFC gold, authoring a third-round submission win over Kevin Lee to capture the promotion’s interim lightweight title. With this win in the rear-view, the expectation is that Ferguson is likely to battle undisputed UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor somewhere down the road – at least, that’s what UFC President Dana White suggested post-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

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.

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.

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

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

Ahead of his UFC 216 interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson that takes place this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kevin Lee has been getting a lot of attention with the words he has been choosing to say to the media. However, it will all come down to his performance and how he does in the Octagon against Ferguson, who is on an impressive nine-fight winning streak in the UFC lightweight division. Tony’s the hardest fight in this division,” Lee said to Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting on Wednesday. “Once I beat him, then there’s no denying me any further.”

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.

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.

Russell Ess - September 29, 2017

If you weren’t aware of yesterday’s heated argument between Tony Ferguson and Fabricio Werdum, the two got into it with each other at the UFC 216 media lunch in Los Angeles. Ferguson was interrupted by Werdum when he was speaking with the media and the two began arguing in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

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 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

Russell Ess - September 28, 2017

Kevin Lee has the biggest fight of his career coming in just over a week as he will fight Tony Ferguson for the UFC interim lightweight title at UFC 216. While the two lightweights will battle for the interim title, Lee believes that this is the real lightweight title fight with Conor McGregor more of a business champ rather than a lightweight Ultimate Fighting Champion.