Tony Ferguson reflects on meeting with Conor McGregor

UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson recently took a little trip down memory lane, reflecting on a meeting with his long-time rival Conor McGregor.

Ferguson and McGregor have stood out as two of the UFC’s top lightweights for many years. Somewhat miraculously, however, the pair have never shared the cage.

That being said, they have crossed paths before. For several years, both men were managed by Paradigm Sports Management. During that chapter of their careers, they wound up under the same roof and even posed for a picture together.

Ferguson reflected on that meeting with McGregor in a recent Instagram post—though it’s not exactly clear what his intentions were.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJZiBgSh-z7/

Until recently, Ferguson, who previously held the UFC interim lightweight title, was on a fantastic 12-fight win-streak. Unfortunately, 2020 was not his year, as he experienced not one but two decisive losses. The first came in May, when he was bludgeoned to a fifth-round TKO loss at the hands of Justin Gaethje. The second occured earlier this month, when he out-grappled to a unanimous decision loss by surging Brazilian contender Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira.

Despite these recent setbacks, Ferguson is adamant that he’s not going anywhere.

“My crew: No excuses, I fell flat,” Ferguson wrote on Instagram post-fight. “I went out and welcomed the attack instead of defend. The warm up time in the back for UFC hasn’t been the same since pre-covid. Still no excuses, times change and so do people. The time from the hotel to the UFC Apex is much more condensed and the aggressive level we needed was not reached.”

”After the fight, we were checked by doctors and went back to the hotel. I felt it was in order to hit pads and spar immediately because the fight was fresh in my mind and blood circulation in my arm was needed. I really needed to figure out what the F’n problem was from the fight. Solution: Pre-fight time management.”

While Tony Ferguson is likely still licking his wounds, Conor McGregor is slated for a huge fight on January 23, when he’ll look to pick up a second win over top lightweight contender Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257.