Michael Bisping: Tony Ferguson has taken too much damage

Muhammad Ali was for a time the most famous man on the planet, known for his magnetism, speed, politics, charm, unique techniques, and a host of other remarkable qualities. Overlooked to a degree was the fact that part of his success was being able to absorb terrible punishment, and he paid a terrible price for it, eventually. Tony Ferguson too has developed a number of tremendous qualities, among them the ability to absorb terrible punishment.

From 2013 to 2019, “El Cucuy” put together a twelve-fight win streak in the UFC’s deepest division, but has now lost two in a row for the first time, in a career that began in 2008. Ferguson lost a brutal Unanimous Decision to Charles Oliveira at UFC 256 on December 12. That followed a brutal TKO loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 on May 9 for the interim belt. After that fight, division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov said Ferguson would not be the same.

Ferguson did not look the same vs. Oliveira. Maybe that’s because “Do Bronx” has for too long overlooked as a tremendous talent. Or maybe it’s because Ferguson, 36, is not diminished. Maybe it’s both. On his latest Believe You Me podcast, former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping expressed concern.

He didn’t look the same, said Bisping, accurately. He didn’t have any good moments. And I just feel because of the amount of damage over the years, now we’re starting to see a decline in what he can do in the Octagon.

If we know Tony Ferguson, he’’s not the type of guy to sit around and say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, I’m done. I’ve taken too much damage.’ No, he’s gonna say the opposite. He’s gonna say, ‘No, I’m fine. I got beaten. Maybe there was some mistakes in camp’ or whatever. Tony’s not going to accept that he’s on the decline.

That’s what fighters do. Fighters never accept that. Fighters need somebody else, a third party to step in: a manager, a loved one, a wife, a coach, a friend, president of the UFC…who knows, we’ve seen that happen many times…to step in and say, ‘Tony, Tony, Tony, you’ve taken a lot of damage these days.’