Din Thomas's analysis on Tony Ferguson, true or false?

[KazDibiase]

Cliffs: Tony is used to have success being wild and unorthodox earlier in his career and focuses too much on being unpredictable instead on his fundamentals. His lacks fundamentals and it's gets worst with age.

 

[TJ Dillashank]

LOL what Tony is like 37 slow and old that's why he's losing prime tony that beat RDA would smoke any version of Benny.

 

[Willek]

Well he did win 12 fights in a row and had every UFC commentator or fan on his nuts for years.

Now everyone wants to pick it all apart? Lame.

 

[drbolony]

Din is spot on and many have said this over the years, but people fell in love with the craziness.

Well he did win 12 fights in a row and had every UFC commentator or fan on his nuts for years.

Now everyone wants to pick it all apart? Lame.

Now? Where have you been? Lots of people have always said Tony's unorthodox style would be his downfall with age. They were right.

 

[Nathan LaMontagne]

Yeah, Din pointing that out surprised me.

Staphy Kevin Fighter Lee dominated him that first round .

Tony had amazing scrambles and a whole lot of cardio and physical attributes to fall back on..

I can't personally stand him but he is crazy tough.

 

[ExitLUPin]

LOL what Tony is like 37 slow and old that's why he's losing prime tony that beat RDA would smoke any version of Benny.

RDA is only 1 year younger and just dominated Felder who I don't think Tony can even beat at this point. RDA has strong fundamentals so he's still a tough out despite being older and past his best. Meanwhile Tony relied too much on his chin, recovery, unorthodox fighting with his speed, reflexes and awkward movement instead of developing fundamentals so when he aged he's turned into a doormat unlike RDA.

If they rematched RDA would basically do what Benny did except he'd prolly dominate the standup even more with his leg kicks and clinch.

 

[JustOnce]

Cliffs: Tony focuses too much on being wild, unpredictable and unorthodox instead on his fundamentals. His lacks fundamentals and it's gets worst with age.

It sounds great when you say that while someone's getting his shit pushed in and it sounds right.

However, I don't necessarily agree that's why he lost. Fundamentals doesn't help you get up from a superior BJJ player who got top position on you. Fundamentals doesn't necessarily help you from being able to fend off takedowns.

This isn't boxing where staying with your fundamentals, or stepping away from it, could come to bite you in the butt, like Roy Jones JR, you know when the speed and reflex isn't there.

Even if Tony had sound fundamentals, it wouldn't have helped him much better with a superior BJJ guy on top of him, nor do I think it would have helped Tony from fending off takedowns.

I think it's just Din Thomas trying to sound smart and saying the things that rounds right when Tony's getting his shit pushed in.

Tony in his prime was dangerous everywhere. He had heart, he had cardio, he had power, and he has submissions threats. He was most definitely unorthodox, but he wasn't always THAT unorthodox, from TUF days and all.

Tldr, I think Din Thomas just talking out of his ass, and Tony doesn't have bad fundamentals, he just lost to a better fighter.

 

[Pierced7681]

Gaethje ruined him. He’s not been the same since that beating. It happens.

 

[VirginNose]

Every time dariush threw a headstrike tony just turned his back and ran away...was kinda sad to see

 

[TJ Dillashank]

RDA is only 1 year younger and just dominated Felder who I don't think Tony can even beat at this point. RDA has strong fundamentals so he's still a tough out despite being older and past his best. Meanwhile Tony relied too much on his chin, recovery, unorthodox fighting with his speed, reflexes and awkward movement instead of developing fundamentals so when he aged he's turned into a doormat unlike RDA.

If they rematched RDA would basically do what Benny did except he'd prolly dominate the standup even more with his leg kicks and clinch.

NGL now that I'm thinking about it that's true. Thinking back he's never really blocked anything properly he's got an ok jab but his cross doesn't exist and his feet get tied up. my bad lol

 

[Donnybat]

Gaethje ruined him. He’s not been the same since that beating. It happens.

Gaethe literally took Tony’s soul. Motherfucker is a zombie these days

 

[Zinger]

Vannata took Tony's soul.

 

[Pastinaca1]

He looked bad in some of his wins as well. Specially in the Cerdone fight, he was soooo slow.

When you get knocked down all the time it is obvious that you are not that great and eventually you will start losing.
He got old and took tons of damage, and his luck of being able to recover and win fights ended as well.

Maybe he can still beat some Top 15-20 fighter, I don’t know.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

If he said anything other than Tony is the most overrated fighter of the last 5 years. I vehemently disagree.

 

[DestinedAussie]

Cliffs: Tony is used to have success being wild and unorthodox earlier in his career and focuses too much on being unpredictable instead on his fundamentals. His lacks fundamentals and it's gets worst with age.

This so lame, especially from Din.

Tony is simply too old in a division where age catches up to you fast. He also hasn't been the fighter since the leg injury. Sadly he missed his window and is actually pretty small for weight class (I imagine if you weighed ppl before they got in the octagon he would be the lightest of the top 10.

 

[TheWave111]

Without pressure Tony can't win. His pressure is gone. Tony won all his fights with pressure and making his opponents tired.
Tony is more scared to take damage on the feet, hebis slower. This makes him having no pressure anymore.
I've said it after the Gaethje fight. He won't win against any top 15 LW.

 

[wh4tttt]

double weight cut prob cut a total of 40 lbs in a few weeks + justins fist hammered him for 5 rounds.

tony looks like he aged 10 years since the kevin lee fight.

meanwhile motown getting head tattoos lol.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

Disagree. If what you're doing is working, you're a genius... as soon as it stops, you're an idiot according to fickle spectators.

Was never big on Tony but it is an absolute JOKE how quickly his "fans" have abandoned him. The guy won 12 straight fights in the deepest division ffs and stopped most of his opponents...obviously what he was doing was very effective.

Tony's decline was caused by:

1) Wear and tear from taking a TON of damage in his fights (he was starting to get rocked more and more near the end, it was not "all of a sudden" despite what casuals think
2) Injuries sustained by reckless/irresponsible training style: Tony trained like an absolute maniac which eventually led to him pulling out of fights and becoming less active because his body never healed properly. Cain and Sean Sherk also had similar issues due to overtraining
3) Inactivity and delay between fights at an advanced age: The wear and tear became more obvious when Tony starting becoming less active and he got older. Objectively, the competition started getting tougher as well as he had once had the top resume in the division but as he fought less, others gained momentum and suddenly he hadn't fought much of the top 10. Would he have been competitive if he was younger? Absolutely... not saying he would beat everyone he fought, but he would still be in the mix.

All in all, it's not very surprising to see that he has declined in a pretty typical fashion and I do not believe that this is simply because of his "unorthodox style". Many of his so called "fans" will have surely flocked to Khabib by now and will jump back and forth between who is currently on top as their "favorite fighter". Most sports fans, but particularly mma fans, are complete scum.

 

[Blayt7hh]

His reaction speed is going. You can see it in the way he reacts to incoming strikes now vs how he used to fight. Happens to everyone eventually, and happens faster in the lighter divisions. It was a great run though and he will go down in the JBG hall of fame as one of the most exciting fighters to ever compete

 

[sadowolf]

I mostly agree with that, and it's not really news. A lot of us could see that Tony's style wasn't sustainable and he didn't have the fundamentals to stay successful once the "unorthodox cardio machine wild man" thing stopped working. His fundamentals were always shaky, and the more he's gotten out of his physical prime, the more glaring it's been; and this predates his current losing streak. The Gaethje loss didn't mark him exiting his prime, he was already out of it and it was a significant factor in why I was somewhat confident Justin would beat him the more I looked at the fight. I don't think it's the only factor, but I do think it's a big part of why he hasn't been able to adjust his style to remain successful despite his physical decline like some top fighters are able to.

This isn't an isolated incident. Shortly before the fight tonight I actually compared Tony to Anthony Pettis, whose decline also showed a lack of fundamentals that was overlooked while he was a top guy. Nobody talked about his poor defensive footwork, willingness to back himself to the cage, lack of urgency, or allergies to pressure before he got figured out and his vaunted flashy striking wasn't enough anymore at the higher levels. He was one of those guys who already had the fight half won before it even started because of how dangerous and dynamic he was perceived. Once people got over that it was easier to just exploit the ever-present holes in his game.