It was not a banner night for either Tony
Ferguson or Junior dos
Santos at UFC
256.
One bout removed from having a 12-fight winning streak halted by
Justin
Gaethje at UFC 249, Ferguson had a chance to jump right back
into title contention with a victory over Charles
Oliveira in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Instead, “El Cucuy” was dominated for three rounds by his
Brazilian opponent in a lopsided unanimous decision defeat.
That came as a surprise to Dana White, who expected a return to
form for the longtime contender. Nonetheless, White still came away
impressed with Feguson’s durability after “The Ultimate Fighter 13”
winner survived a nasty armbar from Oliveira at the end of Round
1.
“I thought we were going to see the old Tony,” White said at the
UFC 256 post-fight press conference. “I thought that the last fight
he was affected by weight cutting and we were going to see [the old
Tony]. Ten out of 10 people tap to that armbar. The fact he even
made it through the armbar is unbelievable and just a testament to
how tough and durable and crazy Tony Ferguson is.”
Ferguson will turn 37 in February and is now coming off
back-to-back defeats in which he absorbed a tremendous amount of
punishment. White acknowledges that Ferguson may be past his prime,
but he isn’t ushering the fighter toward the door just yet.
“Of course that’s possible [that he’s past his prime], but Tony
needs to go home and spend the holidays with his family and take
some time off and think about what he wants to do next year and
we’ll see what’s next for him,” White said. “But yes, every time
you fight in this business, that’s always possible.”
The prospects appear to be even more grim for former heavyweight
champion Junior dos
Santos, who suffered his fourth consecutive KO/TKO defeat in
the Octagon at the hands of French prospect Ciryl
Gane.
White was succinct when asked about what’s next for “Cigano.”
“I do [think it’s time he starts looking at his future],” White
said, who later added that Saturday was “possibly” the end of dos
Santos in the Octagon.
Dos Santos was hurt by a jab in the first round from Gane and then
was dropped by an elbow from the Frenchman. Though the blow
appeared to land at least partially on the back of the Brazilian’s
head, White believes the stoppage was just.
“You guys tell me what you think, but what I saw was Junior had
gotten hurt,” White said. “He got rocked, and he was almost walking
away and turning his back to him, and Ciryl was throwing shots at
him and then threw an elbow. They were squared up. You turned your
back, and then he caught you on the back of the head.”
With White’s recent proclamation that significant cuts are on the
horizon, dos Santos looks like a prominent veteran who could be on
the chopping block. That’s simply par for the course, according to
White.
“That’s every weekend,” he said. “We’ll be talking about it next
weekend too after the fights. It’s part of the sport. I think
between last year and next year you’re gonna see a lot of the old
big names moving on or retiring.”