Tony Ferguson’s time in the UFC has finally come to an end, but rather than retiring it seems that ‘El Cucuy’ has decided to sign for upstart promotion Global Fight League instead.
GFL is a new team-based promotion launching this year that has recruited a vast amount of aging MMA veterans to it’s roster, including another ex-UFC fighter Kevin Lee, who has already signalled his interest in putting together a rematch with Ferguson, who beat him by a triangle choke submission for the interim lightweight title at UFC 216 in 2017.
The 40-year-old Ferguson was a fan-favorite during his long run in the UFC that spans over almost 15 years, beginning with winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 in 2011.
Ferguson proved to be one of TUF’s most recognisable stars and can count himself very unlucky to have never had a chance to fight for the undisputed lightweight title, having gone 15-1 in his first eight years with the company, including a 12-fight winning streak at one stage.
Only bad luck kept him from fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title, with the match-up falling through on multiple occasions.
And unfortunately for Ferguson, starting in 2020 his career trajectory suddenly took a dramatic turn for the worse, starting with a brutal beatdown against Justin Gaethje in an interim title fight that saw him TKO’d in the final round.
That was to be the first of eight losses in a row that unfortunately leaves Ferguson holding the undesirable record for the longest losing streak in UFC history.
Given that he’s taken a tremendous amount of punishment over the years and at times has been a shadow of his former self there’s long been calls for him to retire, but it seems Ferguson can’t resist the chance to continue fighting, and appears to now be relishing the prospect of facing fellow veterans in the GFL promotion.
