Tony Ferguson stretched his losing skid to seven after Paddy Pimblett won via unanimous decision at UFC 296. With this, the talk about whether the 39-year-old should now retire started making noise again. For famous MMA trainer Javier Mendez, it really is the time for Ferguson to finally move on from MMA, but said that there are still other options for the UFC veteran.
“El Cucuy” is undeniably one of the well-known fighters at UFC, thanks to his 12-fight winning streak, which started with his victory over Mike Rio at UFC 166. As a former interim lightweight champion of the promotion, the fighter got the chance to meet some of the biggest names in the division.
That success, however, ended years ago after facing Justin Gaethje in May 2020. From here, the American was given bigger names like Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, and Bobby Green, but lost to all of them. And just days ago, Ferguson saw his latest and seventh loss to Pimblett, who is just at the beginning of his UFC career. Many see it as the final nail in the fighter’s coffin.
One of the people who believe Ferguson’s time at UFC is finally over is Mendez, who is known for training Khabib Nurmagomedov, Daniel Cormier, BJ Penn, Luke Rockhold, and Cain Velasquez. The MMA trainer addressed the possibility of the UFC releasing Ferguson but said there are opportunities outside the octagon for him, including the BKFC. As Mendez believes, this is all possible through the noise the fighter’s name could still bring in his fights.
“Well, number one: the UFC, you know, releasing him, at this stage, might benefit them,” Mendez said in his recent podcast content on YouTube. “Before it didn’t because he was still a needle mover. He’s really good, you know, for advertising, you know, hyping fights up. Tony’s still good at that. So, you know, the fact that there’s like, bare-knuckle fighting, the fact that there’s other organizations out there, it means that Tony still has a job if he wants to for a high-paying job, you know? Because people pay to watch him.”
Ultimately, Mendez thinks it is time for Ferguson to assess his situation and give in to the reality of his age.
“I think he probably needs to really look at himself now because that’s seven in a row, and he keeps changing things up,” Mendez said. “Father Time’s catching him up more.”
UFC CEO Dana White expressed the same idea earlier, stating that he “would love to see Tony retire.” Most recently, Cormier revealed that even former US Navy SEAL David Goggins, who trained the fighter before the fight, also admitted that it could be time for Ferguson to retire. The former interim champ, however, is still resisting, asking the fans recently to “keep the faith,” suggesting his plan to continue his MMA journey.
