mma / Columns

Okay, NOW Tony Ferguson’s Legit

November 8, 2016 | Posted by Evan Zivin

What a time to come out as a top contender in the UFC Lightweight Division…

…what a horrible, horrible time…

Hey, at least Mexico City got a decent night of fights on Saturday, with only 50% of the runtime being devoted to talking about the altitude. That’s an improvement, right?

Hey, do you ever wonder if the Mexican broadcasters show concern for their fighters competing on UFC cards in other parts of the world due to the lack of altitude? I mean, can they perform with all that extra oxygen? This is a legitimate concern.

Overall, it was a good night for the home team as Mexican fighters Erik Perez and the debuting Alexa Grasso were successful in their fights. Erick Montano didn’t fare too well, getting blitzed with punches by Max Griffin, a guy who uses the nickname “Pain.” That makes me wary to support him because that is the silliest goddamn thing I’ve heard since that fighter gave himself the nickname “Beastin’ 25/8,” which stopped being amusing after the first time Bruce Buffer was forced to utter it inside the cage.

In featherweight action, Ricardo Lamas choked out Charles Oliveira, who I’m still not entirely sure didn’t just get confused and think he was fighting at lightweight (seriously, why did he weigh in 9 pounds over? SOMEBODY TELL ME!!!)

Also, Marcin Held, who got treated pretty well by the UFC for being a former Bellator title challenger, gassed and let Diego Sanchez escape with a win. Plus, former UFC bantamweight title challenger Joe Soto was on the card.

Yes, that happened. It happened and we will always have to live with that.

The main event was at least somewhat entertaining, as Tony Ferguson kicked and jabbed his way to a unanimous decision victory over former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos.

Tony gave the performance of his career against dos Anjos and, with the victory, he can finally say that he’s deserving of a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship.

That’s not to say that he wasn’t deserving before, though. I mean, Dan Henderson did just fight for the title, right?

I do like Tony. I do. He has a fun fighting style, he isn’t afraid to take risks to finish a fight, and he’s not the worst interview when he’s forced to talk to the media. Plus, he has a 9 fight win streak. That’s damn impressive. No one in the division has had to win that many fights in a row without getting a title shot, so that means he’s overdue for one, right?

Sure, although I don’t know if I’d had said that a week ago.

Yes, winning 9 fights in a row is great but it’s not always about the quantity of wins, but the quality of them (anyone who follows/gets enraged on a yearly basis by college football knows what I’m talking about). Saying how many fights you’ve won doesn’t mean a whole lot if you haven’t fought anyone worth a damn.

For the first half of his win streak, Tony beat statistical nobodies. Okay, a win over Danny Castillo in 2014 was somewhat impressive, but neither guy was ranked at the time and Danny went on a slide after that fight, losing his next three and his roster spot.

Tony’s next win, a first round submission of Gleison Tibau, was the fight that got him ranked. Tibau has never been an easy win but he’s also never been able to win more than 3 fights in a row and he loses to pretty much every top ranked fighter he’s faced. He’s also currently serving a drug suspension.

Don’t do drugs kids.

Then again, Tibau does have a win over dos Anjos…

After that, Tony defeated Josh Thomson at the tail end of a 3 fight losing streak that saw him exit the UFC. He then defeated Edson Barboza right before he had his coming out party by scoring back to back wins against Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez.

So wait. Why are we talking about Tony Ferguson as the next title challenger when Edson Barboza beat a former UFC champion before Tony did and then followed it up with a win over a former Strikeforce champion and UFC title challenger? That sounds more impressive than 9 random wins, right?

Oh and, before the dos Anjos fight, he almost lost to promotional newcomer Lando Vannata, who is currently notable for almost beating Tony Ferguson and for not being a Star Wars character.

But, after Saturday, Tony now has what he’s needed this entire time: a statement win. A win that actually holds weight and means something. By beating a former champion, in his return fight from that title loss, Tony finally has the credibility he needs to say he’s deserving of a title shot. This win gave him the currency he needs to finally cash in big.

That’s assuming, of course, that UFC doesn’t go with Khabib Nurmagomedov, who fights Michael Johnson this Saturday, as the next title challenger at 155.

And this is all assuming that the UFC Lightweight Championship even gets defended again, since I heard through the grapevine that Conor McGregor may be challenging for that very belt this Saturday at UFC 205 (don’t ask me how I know…) and, if Conor were to win, who knows what will happen. Maybe he’ll take the lightweight belt and melt it down with the featherweight belt he has no interest in doing anything else with and have the resulting gold ingot embedded in his teeth so he can flash gold both figuratively and literally every time he opens his mouth.

Don’t think he hasn’t already considered it as an option. You know he has.

I’m not going to get too much into who is the most deserving of a shot at the belt currently wrapped around Eddie Alvarez’s waist (I may save that for another time) but I can definitely say that, for a guy who won The Ultimate Fighter at a time when doing so meant absolute zilch, I am impressed with the journey Tony Ferguson has taken to get to where he is. He’s one of those rare fighters who has built themselves up through the UFC ranks and I have no qualms about saying that, with the win over RDA on Saturday, he is ready and deserving of a UFC title shot and I hope he gets it next year.

Then again, it could have been possible that dos Anjos lost because he wasn’t emotionally ready to come back after the title loss, not to mention the fact that…

See? This is why I can’t have nice things. I should just be happy that a guy with the nickname “El Cucuy” is a top contender in the UFC.

Now THAT is a nickname.

C’mon, Corey Anderson. Step your game up.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.

article topics :

Tony Ferguson, Evan Zivin