It’s been five years since former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has won a fight. Last weekend, in Abu Dhabi, Ferguson lost his eighth consecutive fight. He was submitted by Michael Chiesa in the first round. He removed his gloves following the fight and left one inside the octagon, but he did not retire.
Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen is concerned about Ferguson and explained why in a video posted to his YouTube channel.
“When Tony gets to the post-fight press conference, he stands up, takes the mic and he made some statements that were simply fiction. But they were concerning to me,” Sonnen said. “I took him at his word, and his world was flat frightening. His words were, ‘Hey, if all these thousands of fans are going to come out here and spend all this money to support me, they’ll follow me somewhere else.”
Sonnen questioned if Ferguson drew any fans to Abu Dhabi and took issue with Ferguson removing his gloves after the fight if he wasn’t going to retire. But what concerned Sonnen the most was Ferguson not even attempting to defend the rear-naked choke by Chiesa.
“Zero people booked a ticket, flew over there, did whatever you had to do to come over there and support Tony,” Sonnen said. “When a guy takes his gloves off and it’s a retirement, you cheer for him. It’s called etiquette. Never in the history of any sport has somebody called it a day and not gotten a standing ovation.”
“A nation champion wrestler with a black belt under Eddie Bravo just got jobbed out in the first round by a move that you learn on your first day,” Sonnen continued. “My problem is there wasn’t a hand fight. That’s my problem.”
“If I were to take somebody that was not a trained fighter… Just a guy, and I was to put him in that technique, he naturally, with no training, he naturally is going to come to the problem which is the arm around his neck. That didn’t happen. That is my problem.”
Sonnen went on to say that he has ‘fear and concern’ that Ferguson will be able to land a fight outside of the UFC. “That’s concerning to me,” he said.
