Tony
Ferguson doesn’t seem to be overly discouraged following a
lopsided decision loss to Charles
Oliveira at UFC
256.
“El Cucuy” was dominated on the ground in a unanimous decision
defeat to his Brazilian opponent in Saturday’s co-main event at the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas. When considering that setback comes on the
heels of a fifth-round TKO loss against Justin
Gaethje at UFC 249 in May, it might be reasonable to think that
Ferguson has seen his best days in the Octagon.
“The Ultimate Fighter 13” winner has other ideas, however.
“My search for that epic word called ‘Greatness’ isn’t over,”
Ferguson wrote on Instagram. “Understand crew, we are far from
being retired.”
Ferguson’s night went south once the action hit the canvas, and had
Oliveira secured an armbar a few seconds earlier in the opening
stanza, the fight probably wouldn’t have made it to the judges.
Instead, Ferguson displayed tremendous toughness in surviving until
the Round 1 horn as his arm was contorted at a gruesome angle.
“Chuck was looking to take my back or go for the armbar as soon as
we hit the mat. Thus I didn’t worry about the mount,” Ferguson
wrote. “Kid was slick but so am I. I was looking for the knockout
standing and D’Arce [choke] from bottom position once we hit
[jiu-jitsu] transitions. It was fun fighting against a wet blanket.
Mark my words, that scenario won’t happen again. Period.
“My arm is all right. That armbar was really tight.”
Ferguson admitted that he struggled to get going once the opening
bell sounded, which was in part due to a different pre-fight
routine mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No excuses, I felt flat. I went out and welcomed the attack
instead of [defending it],” he wrote. The warm-up time in the back
for UFC hasn’t been the same since pre-COVID. Still, no excuses.
Times change and so do people.
“The time from hotel to UFC Apex is much more condensed and the
aggressive level we needed was not reached. My fault.”