What really happened to Tony Ferguson?

[Bearknuckle]

He was on a big win streak. He was touted as the guy to beat Khabib. His mythical submissions off his back, his wild striking and imanari rolls.

So many people jumped off his war wagon. But the thing was there were sooo many of you hardcore mma fans that legit believed he could’ve beat khabib. Even khabib respected his skills. So what happened between the potential khabib fight to where we are now. Injuries? Age? Mental? Bad luck? Could this have happened to anyone?

 

[Shano123]

Gaethje fight that started his fall from grace

 

[HoelHomero]

He was 36 when he started losing. Not really an uncommon occurrence, add mental issues and bad training habits to the equation and you have T.Ferg. Don't underestimate age as a factor for a fighter who relied on unorthodoxy, speed and flexibility.
His win streak is still amazing, and a fight against Khabib prime vs prime would've been amazing and competitive, I still believe that.

 

[Chomsky Honk]

His brain has taken so much damage over the years, especially from the Gaethje and Chandler fights. Surgeries, and Father Time.

 

[HHJ]

"Besides all the damage he already had going into the gathje fight,that severe beating took years off his life"

I lifted this excerpt from DUH Magazine

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Let's look at his most recent losses closely.

Justin Gaethje - Probably Justin best performance I've ever seen.
Charles Oliveira - losing to him to a unanimous decision. There is no shame to that.
Beneil Dariush - was in his own hot win streak. Lost in unanimous decision to go who was on fire at the time.
Michael Chandler - Ferguson looked very good in this fight until he got caught.
Nate Diaz - Can't remember this fight that well. Nate is a very tricky fighter, so it happens.
Bobby Green - Didn't see the fight, but hearing about others talking about it. Based on their recollection, this could be the worse performance by Ferguson in his losing streak.

Besides the Bobby Green, I'd say he just had bad luck along the way to keep this losing streak going. It is what it is.

 

[PrepareForGlory]

Gaethje fight that started his fall from grace

Common misconception.

Tony was getting smacked around during the Cerrone, Pettis, and Lee fights before the Gaethje fight. He just happened to win all 3 and winning heals all wounds.

He was on the slide already, but it's not his fault, Father Time is undefeated.

 

[HHJ]

Let's look at his most recent losses closely.

Justin Gaethje - Probably Justin best performance I've ever seen.
Charles Oliveira - losing to him to a unanimous decision. There is no shame to that.
Beneil Dariush - was in his own hot win streak. Lost in unanimous decision to go who was on fire at the time.
Michael Chandler - Ferguson looked very good in this fight until he got caught.
Nate Diaz - Can't remember this fight that well. Nate is a very tricky fighter, so it happens.
Bobby Green - Didn't see the fight, but hearing about others talking about it. Based on their recollection, this could be the worse performance by Ferguson in his losing streak.

Besides the Bobby Green, I'd say he just had bad luck along the way to keep this losing streak going. It is what it is.

6 losses cant just be bad luck. Maybe he just aint got it anymore? Even if he went to a decision w Bobby Green,he still lost that fight.
He still got subbed by Nate,who hasnt subbed anyone since Conor in 2016

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

6 losses cant just be bad luck. Maybe he just aint got it anymore? Even if he went to a decision w Bobby Green,he still lost that fight.
He still got subbed by Nate,who hasnt subbed anyone since Conor in 2016

Fair enough.

Not saying it's all bad luck those losses, but to lose 6 in a row, you have to have some bad luck on your side. Just like winning 6 in a row, you got to have some good luck on your side. It's game of inches and anything can happen. Just look at the Gaethje fight with Poirier. Even Gaethje admits there is a factor of luck in the fight game, that's all I'm saying.

 

[HHJ]

Fair enough.

Not saying it's all bad luck those losses, but to lose 6 in a row, you have to have some bad luck on your side. Just like winning 6 in a row, you got to have some good luck on your side. It's game of inches and anything can happen. Just look at the Gaethje fight with Poirier. Even Gaethje admits there is a factor of luck in the fight game, that's all I'm saying.

I dont believe Gaethje when he says that. Trevor Wittman is as crafty a coach as they come,and I believe they came into that fight knowing they could exploit Dustin's tendency to block like a boxer,even at high kicks. Justin never throws them and now he's throwing them more than once?

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

I dont believe Gaethje when he says that. Trevor Wittman is as crafty a coach as they come,and I believe they came into that fight knowing they could exploit Dustin's tendency to block like a boxer,even at high kicks. Justin never throws them and now he's throwing them more than once?

You don't believe that there is luck involved in the fight game at all? Just by your own personal observation/opinion? I mean the Chandler fight with Ferguson is an ideal example of luck being not on your side. How many times has Chandler thrown a kick like that and it lands completely flush? There's an element of luck in this game, in fact in all sports pretty much. That's just my opinion.

Trust me, I'm not even a fan of Ferguson, I just want to look at his last 6 fights objectively as possible. But anyways again it is what it is.

 

[HHJ]

You don't believe that there is luck involved in the fight game at all? Just by your own personal observation/opinion? I mean the Chandler fight with Ferguson is an ideal example of luck being not on your side. How many times has Chandler thrown a kick like that and it lands completely flush? There's an element of luck in this game, in fact in all sports pretty much. That's just my opinion.

Trust me, I'm not even a fan of Ferguson, I just want to look at his last 6 fights objectively as possible. But anyways again it is what it is.

Of course there is luck,but Justin used clever gameplanning to beat dustin

 

[Brit_Brawler]

Context matters.

His 12 fight streak was over a span of 7 years. He was not very active at all. Couple that with injuries in between.
Those last 4 wins he had before the gaethje fight were almost a year apart.
Let that sink in.
Beats rda November 5 2016
Beats Kevin Lee Oct 7 2017
Beats pettis. Oct 6 2018
Beats cerrone June 8 2019

The loss to gaethje was also then again may 9 2020 so 11 months later.

The guy barely ever fought and i for one noticed gradual decline way before the gaethje fight.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Of course there is luck,but Justin used clever gameplanning to beat dustin

The point I'm making is that Ferguson had some bad luck along the way through this losing streak. So that's why I gave an example of the Chandler fight where Ferguson was looking great until we all know. That's all. : - )

 

[Paladin]

He was on a big win streak. He was touted as the guy to beat Khabib. His mythical submissions off his back, his wild striking and imanari rolls.

So many people jumped off his war wagon. But the thing was there were sooo many of you hardcore mma fans that legit believed he could’ve beat khabib. Even khabib respected his skills. So what happened between the potential khabib fight to where we are now. Injuries? Age? Mental? Bad luck? Could this have happened to anyone?

I think that Tony really fell off after he broke his leg.

if you watched his fights closely, you may have observed that he no longer was able to tip kick or kick as hard after the leg break, he was no where near as effective with his scrambles, take Downs, lateral movement, and his ground game was really compromised because he was not able to effectively use his leg.
After the leg break, tony made a critical mistake of coming back too early and causing permanent damage to his knee. Tony is too tough for his own good and should have taken a year or more to properly rehab the knee, instead of going against medical advice and putting too much strain on his still heeling leg.
He kept winning for a while but was relying on pure toughness and hype. I believe over time, he lost his edge because he was no longer training as hard or as efficiently due to the compromised knee.


I believe The broken knee started the downfall.

 

[dittohead84]

Not being that well prepared for Gaethje specifically and I don't think cutting weight twice in quick succession helped. That was always going to be a hell of a fight and he went into it all wrong and got bashed like never before

 

[chinarice]

The cable ruint him. Was never the same after that surgery

 

[bunt]

He used to walk through shots and drown his opponents. After a while those shots take more effect and you cant overwhelm your opponents with the same style. He doesnt have a traditional adding up points style and always relied on causing carnage. The nate fight was the first fight where you could see he got an electric shock everytime his chin got touched.

If you feel yourself getting rocked in every exchange it's going to seriously limit your forward momentum, and without that Tony's forced to play a more traditional tit for tat striking game which he isnt gunna win because he lacks simple fundamentals like boxing offence.

 

[ryun253]

His athleticism disappeared overnight

 

[balkanbomber85]

Time happened to him, that's it...

He was 36 when his losing streak started, for example we never had a LW champ older than 33, and his style was always very resource consuming. I would say he left his personal peak already 2 years before, so in 2018. Many hardcore fans could see that he was a little slower, his reflexes weren't on top and in general he seemed to absorb more damage. But it was Tony, everybody thought he will keep on like that. Then he basically last minute accepted the Gaethje fight, which I would say was his biggest mistake ever (yes this includes DUI) after he prepared 9 months straight for a grappler and he decided to have two weight cuts, which definitely didn't help his brain and chin. The rest is history.

In martial arts its absolutely nothing new and shocking that a guy on a high winning streak has a negative streak after the first loss in a long time. Especially when you keep fighting the top10 of your sport, which he did until the last fight.