El Cucuy details how giving up alcohol transformed him
Tony Ferguson: “It was like a weight. It’s like a heavy weight that’s on you, and you don’t even realize that you need.
Former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson describes himself as a “Phoenix reborn” ahead of his fight Saturday night vs. Anthony Pettis at UFC 229. Among other changes, Ferguson has recovered from a freak knee injury and given up alcohol. He clarifies that he was not a problem drinker, but that drinking was limiting him.
It was like a weight, said Ferguson to Fernanda Prates and Mike Bohn for MMAjunkie. It’s like a heavy weight that’s on you, and you don’t even realize that you need. That’s why I looked at [Conor McGregor], and I was like, ‘Dude, you’re doing this a couple of weeks before?’ And I kind of, I looked at it, and you can’t hate on somebody like that.
What I realize is that my full potential – not even just that, with drinking, but eating right. Adding supplements. Adding the right nutrients. You have to realize, if you don’t put the right stuff inside your body, you’re going to get f***ed.
Pettis fought twice at featherweight in 2016, and then returned to 155, where he has gone 2-1, earned two performance bonuses, and lost only on an injury. However, Ferguson believes the effects of the deep cuts two years back may remain.
It’s going to be a hard one for him, because he had to cut down to 145 pounds, said Ferguson. When you do that, your bone structure, your muscles, the amount of oxygen in your brain – everything changes when you cut so much weight. And then you try to gain it back. I can see a lot of baby fat on him. And when it happens, that means your body is confused. You don’t know what’s going on. This [indicating himself] is not confused. It’s rock.
I don’t like to talk too much on techniques and stuff, because then you start worrying about it. People are like, ‘Are you going to knock him out?’ ‘No.’ ‘Are you going to submit him?’ ‘No.’ ‘What are you going to do?’ Buy the pay-per-view, watch the motherf***er and take notes.
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