Tony Ferguson will always be a UFC legend after what he was able to accomplish in the lightweight division.
That being said, the end of his run in the promotion was an incredibly difficult time for ‘El Cucuy’.
Friday night in Manchester saw Ferguson break his eight-fight losing streak by stopping Salt Papi at Misfits Boxing 22.
In his UFC career, the former interim lightweight champion went from one of the greatest runs that the sport has ever seen to the complete opposite.
Both Ferguson’s reactions and the response from his fellow fighters showed just what this moment meant for an MMA legend and his career.
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Tony Ferguson says taking a break to find happiness was key to breaking his losing streak
For Tony Ferguson’s fans, it was an incredibly cathartic moment to see his reaction to finally getting his hand raised for the first time since 2019.
This period of six years has obviously been very difficult for ‘El Cucuy’ in several ways.
In a post-fight media scrum, posted by MMA Crazy, Ferguson was asked about whether it became increasingly difficult to snap his losing streak due to the building pressure after every setback.
The UFC legend said that the consecutive losses weren’t as big of a factor when it comes to what was holding him back from coming out on top.
He believes that finding happiness again, which taking some time off and taking on a new challenge helped him to do, was the most important part of returning to the win column.
“No, I think more than anything else it was happiness. Finding that internal happiness of wanting to do something. People get burned out. I don’t know if you ever play video games, you get kind of tired of a video game but if that’s the only one that you’ve got, you going to stop playing it?
“That’s kind of how it was. I was just taking these fights, I wasn’t enjoying myself. I was trying to put things in order which just didn’t make sense for me… I just needed a break.”
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Tony Ferguson appears to have found his happiness in Misfits Boxing
Ahead of his pro boxing debut, Tony Ferguson seemed excited by the idea of testing himself in a different ruleset and proving people wrong at the same time.
His comments after the fight showed that he hasn’t just found happiness in his career again, he appears to have embraced Misfits Boxing as his home for the time being.
‘El Cucuy’ responded to several questions about what is next for him by stating that he’ll go back to the drawing board, but continuing to compete in boxing with Misfits is a point that he touched on multiple times.
“I’m here to stay. I like the Misfits Boxing. I’m a UFC Hall of Famer when it goes into it. I like collecting accolades and this is going to look cool in my hall, so I’m excited.”