Skip to main content

Daniel Cormier thinks Tony Ferguson may have 'one more night in him' vs. Paddy Pimblett

Daniel Cormier thinks Tony Ferguson could show flashes of his prime form vs. Paddy Pimblett.

Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) will look to snap a six-fight losing skid when he takes on Pimblett (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

During his six-fight losing streak, Ferguson has been finished in his past three by Bobby Green, Nate Diaz, and Michael Chandler, with the remaining losses coming to Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje. Ferguson was able to stun Gaethje with an uppercut and drop Chandler, so Cormier wonders if he’ll be able to pull off a big moment against Pimblett and get his hand raised.

“Is it as simple as he just needs one?” Cormier asked on his YouTube channel. “Because imagine what happens for Tony Ferguson if he beats Paddy Pimblett. He said before the last fight – I sat in the fighter meeting with him and Tony Ferguson said, ‘It’s going to be a fight right now. Five more fights, I’m on the title.’ So, it’s not like he has lost that desire to fight. He has not lost the thought that he can be a world champion.

“I’m going to tell you this right now, and this is the saying as old as time, fellas: Every great champion has one more night in him. We saw it with George Foreman w en he beat Michael Moorer. He did not belong in the ring with Michael Moorer. We have seen so many great fighters have one great night, where if you close your eyes and you squint enough, they remind you of that person that was on that run.”

Cormier has urged Ferguson to retire a couple of times during his skid, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t sold on him during his 12-fight unbeaten run.

“I think Tony Ferguson was so good,” Cormier said. “The way he would hit these guys, they would look like they were bludgeoned. … I think he lost something in the Justin Gaethje fight – middle of a pandemic, no people in the arena, fighting Justin Gaethje for five rounds, getting beat up for as long as that took.

“I thought he lost something in that fight and he just never looked the same afterwards. But not many people don’t lose something when they fight Justin Gaethje. That’s what happens. Justin Gaethje takes a little part of you that you don’t get back. So I don’t think you can blame Tony Ferguson for that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/ATaVQ8v
via IFTTT
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Sean Strickland: Israel Adesanya title fight '100 percent should be in the cards' with win over Abus Magomedov

Sean Strickland thinks a fight with Israel Adesanya is imminent if he can get past Abus Magomedov . Strickland (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) meets Magomedov (25-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) July 1 at a UFC Fight Night main event at the UFC Apex. Strickland is one of the few top-ranked contenders to never face middleweight champion Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC), so he sees title implications with a win. “If this fight goes my way, it 100 percent should be in the cards,” Strickland told My MMA News . “I f*cking had a close decision with f*cking – what the f*ck was that guy’s name? Jared Cannonier, you knocked some brain cells out of me. Solid guy. Thought I won on the scorecards, but it is what it is. I truly believe I should be the one fighting Izzy, but I lost fair and square. I’ll pay my tenants. I’ll get some Ws, but yeah, that one needs to happen.” Strickland being matched up with Magomedov came as a surprise, considering Magomedov has only one octagon win. Strickland admits it’s not the fight he...
Read more

Max Griffin offended by booking against Michael Morales: 'They're sending a guy that they think can beat me'

LAS VEGAS – Max Griffin is not exactly happy with his matchup against Michael Morales . The 37-year-old welterweight veteran is set to take on Michael Morales on the main card of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 47 at the UFC Apex. This booking made Griffin (19-9 MMA, 7-7 UFC) feel like he’s been set up to be a stepping stone for Morales (14-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who’s unbeaten and just 24 years old – and that has Griffin fuming. “I have a thing for these new guys: I get offended,” Griffin told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 47 media day. “So it’s another guy, 14-0, fought Trevin Giles. That was a terrible fight from Trevin Giles. He beat him in the beginning but burned his arms out, getting sloppy, and got knocked out. … He (Morales) ain’t fought nobody. It’s not even about who y’all fought, but I am me. I am him. I’m not the guy you want to fight when you’re that raw, that new.” Although there’s something to be said about Morales’s promise and rise, Griffin is not getting caught in a ba...
Read more

UFC free fight: Amir Albazi clamps on rear-naked choke to tap Francisco Figueiredo in first

Amir Albazi showed off his finishing prowress at one of the biggest pay-per-view cards of 2022. At UFC 278 last August, Albazi made quick work of Francisco Figueiredo, winning the fight in the first round with a rear-naked choke submission. The victory was his third of three fights in the UFC, and his second first-round finish. You can watch Albazi’s fantastic performance against Figueiredo in the video above. Related UFC on ESPN 45 pre-event facts: Jim Miller can add to octagon wins record, be first to 25 Albazi returns to action Saturday for his first main event under the UFC banner at UFC on ESPN 45 . He takes on Kai Kara-France in a flyweight matchup. The event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and airs live on ESPN and ESPN+. Albazi (16-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will look to extend his current win streak to six straight. He enters Saturday’s main even on the heels of a third-round finish of Alessandro Costa in December. Kara-France (24-10 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will look to retur...
Read more