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Tony Ferguson views Paddy Pimblett as the end to his UFC slump.
Ferguson, 39, faces Pimblett on Dec. 16 in a featured bout at UFC 296, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a true crossroads fight for both men. Once considered one of the top lightweights in the world, “El Cucuy” has fallen on hard times of late, losing six consecutive UFC bouts. Pimblett, on the other hand, rides a six-win fight steak into the final UFC pay-per-view of the year, buoyed by a perfect 4-0 record octagon record.
Ferguson is already a heavy betting underdog, but he likes his chances.
“I’m not going to say he’s a fat f***. Just kidding. No, so Patrick, you’re talking about Patrick, I call him Patrick,” Ferguson said Monday on The MMA Hour when asked about Pimblett.
“He’s a good fighter. He’s long, rangy, lanky. He likes to put on a show. He’s kind of mouthy. Obviously he’s English, I think he used to fight at 145. He’s a ‘55er, tall kind of guy. Good submission specialist. Very beatable. He’s on a six-fight win streak. The last fight that he had against Jared Gordon, everybody says that he ended up losing. … Very beatable guy. Six-fight win streak versus six-loss losing streak, which is f***** up. But I hold a couple of records in the UFC now and I would like to start that back up, that’s for sure.”
Ferguson vs. Pimblett has been the most divisive booking of the UFC’s year-end schedule.
Despite his losing streak, Ferguson remains a beloved veteran of the 155-pound division. His late-career results, however, have been difficult to watch for many within the sport; of Ferguson’s six consecutive losses, nearly all of have been relatively one-sided affairs, and four have ended in brutal stoppages. Ferguson’s most recent outing, a listless submission loss to Bobby Green this past July, was met with widespread calls for his retirement.
UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley even labeled Ferguson vs. Pimblett as a “lose-lose” situation for Pimblett because of Ferguson’s run of bad performances.
But Ferguson disagrees.
“I believe in good matchmaking. This is a good fight for both of us,” Ferguson said. “I believe that opportunities exist where we create them. I’ve always said that. Sean Shelby, Hunter [Campbell] and [Mick Maynard], they know what they’re doing, dude. They’ve been doing this for so long. For so long. And I know that I’m a fan-favorite, I know I’m the main event for this card. I don’t even f****** know who else is fighting. I really don’t.
“I’m pulling in all the fans, I’m going to be pulling in a lot of ticket sales for this thing, and that’s the coolest s***. When you’ve got like 18,000 to 20,000 fans screaming your f****** name and listening to your song, you just hear the beat and everybody’s bumping their heads and they’re just amped up, that’s the kind of s*** that you want to have. That’s the kind of fighters that you want to be able to present. I know Paddy’s got the same kind of thing over there.
“But man, I think it’s a good fight, I’m ready to go out there and I’m ready to win. I’m ready to go for that finish. I haven’t had a finish in a very long time. I’m due, that’s for sure.”
Ferguson rebuffed all calls for his retirement when speaking to MMA Fighting. He said neither getting cut from the UFC or nor choosing to hang up his gloves was on his mind, and instead spoke glowingly about the mental rejuvenation he’s experienced ahead of UFC 296. Ferguson said he has reunited with his old team and has worked diligently to correct the mistakes that plagued him in his recent fights, both in and out of the cage.
Ferguson still hopes he can give his supporters one last good run.
“It’s unbelievable the amount of love a lot of people have,” Ferguson said. “I’m not going to question it. I say thank you. But I’m all in. Like, I have the right help, what I need to be able to get this done and to get where I want to go. I have enough. I have enough trophies, but I want one more, and that’s going to take a lot of f****** work and a lot of guts. Dan Gable said this one thing, he’s like, ‘Wrestlers are made that hard to find alloy called guts,’ and it’s what’s it’s going to take. It’s going to take a lot of that in order to get this done.
“But you know me, I’m a conditioning expert, so I’m well conditioned for this s***. And I’m going to go in there, I’m going to finish Paddy. Like, I’m not worried about scaring him. I’m not worried about being angry, trying to go in there with this negative energy. Whatever energy that he’s going to bring, it’s not going to bring me down. I’m going to make sure that I’m so f****** focused with everything that I have that nothing’s going to faze me.”
When asked if he viewed the Pimblett fight as a must-win situation, Ferguson said he does not. He doesn’t want to put that kind of pressure on his shoulders. But “El Cucuy” also admitted that the stakes for UFC 296 are more palpable than they’ve been for a long while.
“I feel it. I’m nervous. I’m going to be real. It’s a good feeling to have,” Ferguson said. “Not being overconfident. Not doing that and then having that nervous energy makes you want to get back in that room and train harder. And like I said, I feel f****** phenomenal. I feel really good, man. Especially being around [my old] team again.
“I feel like I’m not pressured to do s***. Like, I really want to go in there and I want to do this for myself. I want to do this for myself, my kids, my wife. I want to do this for, not just myself, I want to do for my close circle. They see all the stuff. They see the pain, they see that and they worry about me. They don’t want to see me in the hospital. You guys don’t want to see me in the f****** hospital. You guys don’t want to see me get hurt. I don’t understand why you guys want to see everybody else get hurt, but that’s kind of cool.
“I mean, it’s better not me than them, you know? But this is that kind of a sport. And the pandemic kind of hit, you had to kind of be brothers with everybody because it was like that time that era where we’re at. It just took a second for me, six losses for me to be able to snap the f*** out of it and really get back to what I need to do, which is kicking ass.”
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