Tony Ferguson half-heartedly appeared to retire in the Octagon on Saturday night after breaking a new promotional record with his eighth loss in a row, only to change his mind before he’d even left the arena, and now Jon Anik has suggested one final clash with a fellow veteran to serve as a fitting swansong for his career instead.
“I was Googling Joe Lauzon to make sure that he never fought Tony Ferguson because, as I sit here and think about opponents that might make sense for Tony to try to realize some sort of success, Joe Lauzon still has fights left on his contract and, for whatever reason, hasn’t competed, but I think that fight makes some sense,” Anik told Submission Radio.
However, while the UFC’s main commentator seems open to the idea of him fighting again, color commentator Daniel Cormier believes the UFC aren’t going to give him another shot.
“It’s pretty sad to see that, I’ll be honest. Because he wants to fight, but I heard a lot of rumors last weekend that it’s over. They’re not going to let him fight in the UFC anymore. I think he realized that too, because in an interview he said: “I love the UFC, I don’t want to fight anywhere else.” So it seems like they’re gently telling him: point him out the door,” Cormier said on his ESPN show with Chael Sonnen this week.
Meanwhile, rather than being saddened by his potential departure, Sonnen has said he’s more concerned about the idea of Ferguson fighting again.
“When Tony gets to the post-fight press conference, he stands up, takes the mic and he made some statements that were simply fiction. But they were concerning to me,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I took him at his word, and his world was flat frightening. His words were, ‘Hey, if all these thousands of fans are going to come out here and spend all this money to support me, they’ll follow me somewhere else.
“Zero people booked a ticket, flew over there, did whatever you had to do to come over there and support Tony. When a guy takes his gloves off and it’s a retirement, you cheer for him. It’s called etiquette. Never in the history of any sport has somebody called it a day and not gotten a standing ovation.”
“A nation champion wrestler with a black belt under Eddie Bravo just got jobbed out in the first round by a move that you learn on your first day. My problem is there wasn’t a hand fight. That’s my problem.”
“If I were to take somebody that was not a trained fighter… Just a guy, and I was to put him in that technique, he naturally, with no training, he naturally is going to come to the problem which is the arm around his neck. That didn’t happen. That is my problem.”
Sonnen went on to say that he had “fear and concern” that Ferguson may now go on to fight for another promotion.
