Tony Ferguson hinted at retirement after losing his eighth consecutive fight in a row in what is almost assuredly his final appearance in the UFC.
Just moments later backstage, the former interim lightweight champion seemingly walked back those comments while stating that he knows fans would follow him wherever he competes next while promising that he’s only going to “get better and better and better and better” moving forward. Recently retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown understands the difficulties that Ferguson is facing with the possible end of his career because it’s a common theme among fighters at that level of the sport.
While he was resolved in the decision he made just a few months ago, Brown sympathizes with Ferguson’s struggles to put fighting behind him and move onto something else.
“Look, when you lose eight in a row, it doesn’t matter where you’re at in your career — that’s pretty much OK, you should probably call it quits,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Something isn’t right. Whatever it is. If you lost your first eight or you lost your last eight.
“The problem is he had so many wins, he was interim champion, on like a 12-fight winning streak back in the day. When you get eight [losses], it doesn’t matter. If he had lost eight fights in a row at the beginning of his career, his first eight fights, he would have quit most likely. He would have been like ‘well this definitely isn’t the sport for me, I lost eight fights in a row.’ But because he’s already had that high, he’s thinking I can get back to that.”
In many ways, Brown equates the elation felt from winning in the UFC to the euphoria that a drug addict might find while getting high. But much like doing drugs, Brown knows that feeling is only temporary and so fighters are constantly chasing that rush whenever they set foot in the octagon.
Perhaps the biggest difference is that nothing can equal the charge that comes from winning in the UFC so almost every fighter struggles to let that go for good.
“It’s like cocaine. It really is,” Brown said. “That’s what walking into an octagon and beating another man’s ass, especially the way Tony did where he just f*cking ripped people’s souls out of their bodies. That is a high you cannot get anywhere else, in any other way.
“But you can’t chase that. You’ve got to accept that was the season of your life, and it’s time to move onto a new season.”
Because Brown doesn’t know Ferguson personally, he can’t tailor any advice specifically aimed at the 40-year-old veteran as he reaches a crossroads in his career.
But earning his spot on the UFC roster for 16 years before retiring, Brown can definitely speak to his own personal experiences with fighting and then realizing the time was right to hang up his gloves for good. He also knows making that decision isn’t going to be easy for Ferguson or anyone else because there’s a need that fighting fulfills that really can’t be equaled by anything else.
“The reason I was able to retire was because I was just a more well-rounded person than that,” Brown explained. “I have other things that fulfill me and give me reward in life more than just fighting. My identity isn’t attached to just solely being a fighter. You kind of have to remove yourself from the world and kind of be alone with yourself a little bit to realize that, at least I did, because everywhere you go, that’s what everybody places your identity as.
“Everywhere I go, for instance I was just at the state fair last weekend and I got stopped five or six times and people asking for autographs and pictures and pumping me up, asking when I’m going to come back. That fills a huge void in your soul when you can say ‘yeah, I’m coming back.’ But when you have tell them no, I’m not coming back, I’m done — you feel like you just let that person down.”
For Brown, he built a new purpose outside of fighting by opening his gym, which he just recently renovated and celebrated an anniversary following his own retirement from the UFC.
Obviously that’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all for every fighter but Brown says Ferguson needs to seek out something that gives him purpose that doesn’t involve getting punched in the head for a living any longer.
“What kind of helped me more than anything was there was one quote from [Miyamoto] Musashi and I’m probably going to get it tattooed on me at some point — everything is within,” Brown said. “The entire quote goes there’s nothing outside yourself that’s going to make you bigger, richer, stronger, faster, or better, everything is within. Seek nothing outside of yourself. That’s kind of profound to me in the sense as a fighter, that’s what you need to learn about what’s within yourself a little bit more and dig a little bit deeper into your own soul to discover who you are and you’re probably more than just a fighter.
“Now if you are just a fighter, then that’s fine go out there and keep fighting and fight until you die. I have nothing against that. But for me, I found a lot more.”
In Ferguson’s case, Brown certainly won’t tell him what to do but the writing seems to be on the wall with his recent losing streak that will likely end his run with the UFC dating back to 2011.
“I think the moral of the story is Tony needs to call it quits and find something else to do,” Brown said. “Maybe he should open a gym. I’d be happy to help him.”
