After being submitted by Michael Chiesa in the first round of their fight this past August, Tony Ferguson seemingly had one foot out of the door and looked to be retiring from MMA finally.
In the UFC’s first-ever event in Saudi Arabia, former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson equaled the record for the longest losing streak in the promotion’s history, with eight.
Following the disappointing loss, it seemed as though the 40-year-old was finally ready to step away from the sport when he placed one glove down in the center of the Octagon.
Tony Ferguson reveals he won’t retire from the UFC and targets his comeback date
Despite having clearly flirted with the thought of retirement, ‘El Cucuy’ has made it clear that he will not be retiring and will in fact continue fighting under the UFC banner.
It is unclear how many fights Ferguson has left on his current UFC contract, however, UFC CEO Dana White has previously stated that he hopes the 40-year-old will stop fighting.
“I left half a f*cking glove in there, and I got it back so that just tells me I got both pairs of gloves,” Ferguson explained to Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel.
“We’re probably going to take the rest of the season, figure some things out, and we’re coming back hard either January or February… F*ck no I’m not retiring, I’m too old to retire.
“40 years old, I’m halfway to 80. I’ve been competing since I was five years old in multiple sports. It’s not like I don’t know anything else. I do. I’m still able to compete. When somebody can run a sprint faster than me, maybe I’ll start to consider it,” he continued.
‘El Cucuy’ survived a recent roster purge which possibly indicates that he does still have fights on his deal, as much as White likely doesn’t want him to see them through.
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Tony Ferguson highlights what he will change before he returns
Ever since his emergence in the premier promotion, Ferguson’s awkwardness and unorthodox approach to training have made him as popular as he is to this day.
The 40-year-old has never been part of a big team and has always done things his own way, even though sometimes it’s included some bizarre training drills.
More recently, Ferguson partnered up with David Goggins, who helped him prepare for his last few fights. Cardio, though, has never been Ferguson’s issue, making the decision to bring in Goggins an extremely questionable one.
Ahead of his targetted comeback, Ferguson has admitted that he needs to find a new approach to training and he has reached out to several top names in the sport.
“What I really need is to find that coaching and that discipline around other people. Being uncomfortable in practice so that way you’re not miserable in the fight. I approached a couple different coaches. Firas Zahabi is one of the coaches I’ve always admired, because he was GSP’s coach, and GSP was always my target.”