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Tony Ferguson lost to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249

UFC 249 had an incredible clash between Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson. While Ferguson came into the fight as the favourite, Gaethje dominated the former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion.

Rashad Holloway was speaking to Helen Yee regarding the fight, and Ferguson’s boxing coach tipped his hat off to Gaethje for being the better man.

Tony Ferguson lost to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249
Tony Ferguson (R) looks to punch Justin Gaethje in their Interim lightweight title fight during UFC 249 (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

The win sees Gaethje set up a date with the Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

However, Ferguson was to fight Khabib for the Lightweight before the Russian got stuck in his homeland due to the coronavirus.

Holloway was a little upset about how Ferguson had been treated by the UFC in recent years and highlighted a couple of issues from Khabib’s reign at the top:

“Tony’s been fighting even though the UFC hasn’t been keeping them active and that’s not Tony’’s fault, UFC has to do a better job of keeping them active.

“They’ve been kind of pushing Tony to the side for a while. It’s just not right, Tony’s been the fall guy. He’s been having to take these last-minute replacement guys when guys like Khabib can’t make it at things.”

Stripping of title still rankles

Ferguson lost his interim title after injuring his knee seriously during a media event, and that still seems to be hurting his camp:

“Tony tears his knee doing interviews at Fox, you know, and you have see strip some of the interim title and he comes back in four months, that’s unheard of.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson is set for UFC 249
Khabib Nurmagomedov (L) faces off against Tony Ferguson (R) during a press conference (Digital Trends)

However, Holloway also pointed out to the brawl between Khabib and Conor McGregor and how the UFC went light on the two stars:

“Khabib and Conor McGregor get into a fight. Khabib is suspended for a year but he doesn’t get stripped of his title.”

Holloway ended by saying that Ferguson took the Gaethje fight because he wanted to perform.

However, it seems Ferguson’s camp is far from happy regarding some other aspects of the UFC, and it will be interesting to see when El Cucuy makes a return.

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