Your opinion on Tony Ferguson at his best

[BangBang]

He was a p.o.s during the ultimate fighter and has been a prick most of his career

Very weird guy. Watch his behaviour post Gaethje too

I prefer mcgregor and that says something

Thing is he is a social misfit. Awkward, eccentric but someone who had a huge talent for wrestling and fighting. I find it incredible he has a family and kudos to him for that! I think through all the smoke and mirrors he's a very sensitive and humane person. There have been glimmers of that I'm various post fight interviews and interviews with him during his troubled times domestically.
He's not antisocial he's just him. I love him but worry about him!

 

[Lionheart7167]

Ferguson and Stipe are kind of similiar in a weird way. Both built a reputation on, and benefitted from, fighting amazing fighters who were already past their primes or nearing it. In Stipe's case, he beat aging and shopworn versions of JDS, Overeem, Werdum and Cormier (and a rather green Ngannou).
With Ferguson, he certainly beat some amazing fighters but if you look at that record it's a bit deceiving... Cerrone, Pettis and Anjos were all top fighters but nearing their competitive end at that point (even if they'd continue fighting for years with mixed results), and guys like Kevin Lee and Barboza were solid, but inconsistent. I can't think of ANY top 5 LW that Ferguson beat IN THEIR PRIME.
Not taking anything away from the dude. He was definitely a top 10 LW, and a 12-0 record is awesome in ANY division, let alone LW. He found a way to win, against some great fighters, and did so for a long time. That demands respect.
Do I think he was ever the best though? Absolutely not.
Of course, Stipe went on to great accomplishments beyond that, but that's another story....

 

[Mammothman]

He was very good but would have been trashed by Poirier, Holloway, Justin in his prime

 

[Paladin]

He's pretty much done for, but at his best what was your thinking??


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Tony could have been champ if matched vs some of the champs like Pettis, Eddy, RDA..

Tony was a really good fighter with serious killer instincts, but his erratic nature led him to self destruct by slamming his en shin and elbows into metal beams.

Should have contained some of that energy and zeal for the fights.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

He's pretty much done for, but at his best what was your thinking??


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I don’t believe he would have ever beaten Khabib. Any of the 5 times that fight was booked. I believed that in real time, and still do.

The winning streak kind of fooled a lot of people. But the guys on his resume, are not that great. He has some nice names on it. Even a couple of ex-champs. But nothing spectacular. The streak was impressive, but sometimes he also took all kinds of damage, but end up winning.

Whereas now he either takes little damage, and ends up losing. Or he takes real damage, and ends up losing worse.

Some people in here were calling him the LW GOAT. I guess that’s what kind of bothered me. He had won the IC Title against Kevin Lee. That was win number 10 of the 12 fight winning streak. Then he blew out his knee trying to be cool.

It just didn’t make sense to me. Not when there were 3 guys with 3 defences of the LW title.

So people have actually been doing that nonsense in here for quite awhile. It’s not a new thing for a guy to suddenly become GOAT. Just by winning the undisputed title, or even an IC title. The newer casual fans suck. But their kind have been around for more than a decade.

 

[CJrider]

He was awesome, durable, willing to take a beating to out cardio someone. He was never beating Khabib but so what, that dude wasn't some average champion.

 

[Theynevergoeasy]

Could have really beaten anyone but likely loses to khabib 9/10. I remember on here everyone was talking about tony winning by elbows from the bottom. Ya.. doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me.

 

[HHJ]

Could have really beaten anyone but likely loses to khabib 9/10. I remember on here everyone was talking about tony winning by elbows from the bottom. Ya.. doesn’t seem like a winning strategy to me.

Against Khabib? No. If that was a thing, aint nobody stoppin anyone else from doin that. No one did.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

I always remember a lot of his early matches him getting beat up and just taking over

He has a grit to him, and it’s obviously caught up to him

He’s pure wild too. For instance, I use to train with one of the coaches at Eddie Bravo’s gym and he told me the story of him teaching Tony the Imanari roll. Tony never done it before.

Only to come out his very next fight trying to Imanari roll LoL, I forgot the opponent but it was a UFC fight

 

[vivi]

I wasn’t a fan of Tony back in the day, but even I can say it was impressive how he beat RDA. I mean just based on that alone it’s crazy to say he could never have won a title as RDA had just lost the belt and was still very much in his prime.

It seems like people have interpreted the question as ‘would he have beat Khabib’. I’d give the advantage to Khabib but styles make fights and I wouldn’t rule Tony out in a five round fight. I’d pick his cardio and striking over Khabib, and unlike Poirier and Gaethje, Tony was far harder to train and prepare for due to his unpredictability. And that’s where Khabib really shone, in his preparation and wrestling/top game.
Would have been a very interesting fight, and the fans were robbed of seeing it.

 

[GolovKing]

More than a step below khabib but khabib was more than a step ahead of everyone. I think prime Tony could potentially beat Dustin, Justin, Conor, prime rda (he arguably did) and any other atg lws.

 

[HP_Nut]

Khabib and his dad both thought very highly of his skills, said he was dangerous anywhere the fight goes. They give objective analysis bout fighters strength and weaknesses, even about potential opponents. They thought of Tony as the best LW at the time, other than Khabib

 

[VAfan]

a strange case, almost impossible to assess. totally wacky unorthodox style that also relied very heavily on toughness. you could have seen him either winning or losing to almost anyone he fought, even in his prime. a bettor's worst nightmare.

still, it was some streak he went on. of course people are going to say overrated in hindsight but he was a hard test for anybody.