There was a time when Tony Ferguson looked unstoppable and if it weren't for the absolute dominance of Khabib at the top spot, that Fergie was headed to championship gold. However, something started to happen to Tony around this time last year and he has been unable to regain his former glory.
Personally, I was kind of surprised that he maintained his number 5 ranking ahead of the likes of McGregor and Dos Anjos after he dropped 2 straight although these losses were to really good opponents who upon their victory over Ferguson saw themselves rightfully leapfrog him in the rankings.
Tony has a long history with the UFC and no doubt has enjoyed a rather wonderful position with the boss because he used to guarantee top-flight performances and after this past weekend's bout, I think we can say that he still does. He gives it all he has in every single fight but unfortunately for him, it appears as though his ground game just really doesn't have what it takes to compete at a top level anymore.
At UFC 262 the world kind of saw a weakness in his game: Against someone with a good ground game, he is in a very bad position. I still maintain that he is one of the best "stand-up" fighters in all of the UFC but if you know anything about the sport, that isn't nearly good enough because this isn't boxing or kickboxing. You gotta be able to work on the ground as well and when we faced Beneil Dariush this past weekend, once it hit the ground it was all Dariush all 15 minutes of the fight.
Dariush took Ferguson to the ground in what appeared to be a quite easy fashion time and time again and Beneil's superior ground game was obviously getting the best of Tony even really early on. In the above image, Dariush got Tony in a submission that everyone watching was very surprised he got out of. The twist on his knee and ankle clearly got the best of him and when round 3 started Tony's stand up game (which is the strength of his overall offense) was clearly affected by this.
When the scorecards were tallied, exactly no one was surprised that it was a unanimous victory for Beneil Dariush.
Now here is the problem for Tony Ferguson: He, like many other aging superstars has been "found out" by the opposition. Any time he faces anyone in the future they are not going to try to stand up with him but instead take him to the ground where he is his weakest.
Despite coming into this fight as the underdog, Dariush's camp quite clearly focused on his ground game and that was his strategy from the very start: Get Ferguson on the ground, smother him, and get the win. It is hard to believe that Beneil was a relatively unknown fighter and a lot of people didn't recognize his name even once this fight began. I had to search my mind to even recall ever seeing him fight before.
Even though I find ground game involving Jujutsu to be a bit boring (and the crowd was actually booing at several points because most people find it boring) you can't argue with how effective it is.
I would imagine that we see Dariush leapfrog to 6th place and see Ferguson drop to at least 8th after UFC bothers to update their friggin website, which still has a blank space in the Champ slot even though several days have passed since the event.
The official UFC website has a terrible track record for accurate statistics and rankings
After the fight, Dana White had very little to say about the fight and also about Tony's future when he said this
"“Time gets us all man. It’s definitely got to Tony.”
This is bad news for Tony Ferguson because White has a history of releasing underperforming fighters, including and especially if they have fallen from grace the way that Tony has and even more so if they are older and have very little chance of making a comeback. Even if Tony wins his next fight the question remains who it is that they would even put him against? I would imagine someone like Dan Hooker, who has also recently suffered an embarrassing defeat in a "win or get released Tony" sort of match. Hooker's future is still kind of guaranteed for the time being because he is only 30 years old but Tony, who is nearing 40, is in the "getting sent out to pasture (or Bellator)" department.
Personally, I think that this is what is going to happen to Tony. He is going to get one....last....chance in a must win situation and it will not be on a pay-per-view event either. It will be on a fight night because this is a place where he could actually be a main or co-main event. His days in the spotlight are behind him now but he has nothing to be ashamed of. However, I do think his days in UFC are numbered and by this time next year, barring some sort of miracle, that "El Cucuy" will no longer be with the promotion.
Got any thoughts on this?