Tony Ferguson laid down just one of his gloves in the octagon tonight as he refused to fully commit to retirement following an eighth straight defeat.
The former interim champion has been on a losing streak since a 2020 meeting with Justin Gaethje for his belt, and lost again in the first round to Michael Chiesa on Saturday night. UFC boss Dana White had declared that he wouldn’t be getting another fight, and it seems his UFC career has come to and end.
However, Ferguson is a veteran of the game and wasn’t keen to commit to a full retirement, telling fans that he loves the UFC and doesn’t want to go anywhere else. As such, he just laid down one glove, indicating that he wouldn’t fully commit to leaving the sport just yet.
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Tony Ferguson loses by submission in round one to Michael Chiesa in eight straight defeat
After four years of consecutive losses, five of which came by some degree of stoppage, fans were concerned for Tony Ferguson as he headed into the final fight of his UFC career. He faced a similarly struggling Chiesa, who had lost his last five on the bounce as he moved to welterweight permanently.
Chiesa was on the offensive early, pushing the pace and looking for a finish, eventually getting to Ferguson’s back as the clock ticked down on the first round. He managed to get in position and land a rear naked choke, to which he landed a submission victory that snapped a losing streak dating back to January of 2021.
Ferguson’s loss brings his streak of defeats to eight in a row, breaking the previously set record by BJ Penn of seven. He has been given a number of chances by the promotion to launch a comeback, but appears to be heading towards the end of his career,
Tony Ferguson refuses to fully retire after eight consecutive UFC defeat
After the bell, Ferguson was interviewed by Daniel Cormier in the octagon, having previously insisted that he wouldn’t be retiring. Usually, a fighter will lay down their gloves, but he instead opted to just put down one as he teased potentially leaving the sport due to now being on the outs with the UFC.
“I don’t want to retire. I really don’t. But I love the UFC and I don’t want to go anywhere else,” he told Cormier in an emotional post-fight interview. “So, I’m not going to put both gloves down. I’m going to put one and I’m going to keep the other one just in case.”
In a video filmed by official UFC cameras immediately after that speech, he appeared to be more defiant about sticking with the sport. He told the social media team “I ain’t done yet, nah it ain’t time yet, man. I got a lot of s*** to work on.”
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