Tony Ferguson sends a message to people telling him to retire: “F**k you”

Tony Ferguson has made it clear that he is not ready to retire.

Following Ferguson’s fifth-round TKO loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249, many wondered if “El Cucuy” is now past his prime and how the damage over the years has impacted him. Yet, for the former interim lightweight champion, he says he isn’t even thinking about retiring.

Instead, he says people should be focusing on the newer crop of fighters who can’t get a fight, as he has no plans of handing over the torch anytime soon.

“For me, I’m able to adjust on the fly. I feel bad for a lot of these up and coming fighters that just got their pro license or they are looking for fights and they don’t know what to do. Or, these college athletes that don’t know what is going on with their future or how they are going to get picked into the draft,” Ferguson said to ESPN. “There are a lot of what-ifs, right? It’s crazy, I feel for those guys man. A lot of us veterans, we can adjust on the fly like how we have with this stuff.

“We are able to change with experience, but that is us plowing the road for these younger generations to come through and eventually take the torch,” he continued. “But, for me, that ain’t anytime soon. These motherf*****s are out there writing me off saying yo you need to retire right now, f**k you guys.”

Although Tony Ferguson is 36-years-old, he still is one of the best lightweights in the world. Before the loss to Gaethje, he was on a 12-fight winning streak where he was unbeaten since October of 2013.

Ferguson has said he wants to return later this year against Conor McGregor or Dustin Poirier. After that, he wants to face the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje for the lightweight title.

So, even though some fight fans have told him to retire, Ferguson has no desire to hang up the gloves right now.

Would do you want to see Tony Ferguson fight next?