Tony Ferguson wasn’t quite ready to commit to his retirement but he acknowledged that the end is near following his eighth straight loss in the octagon after falling to Michael Chiesa at UFC Abu Dhabi.
The former interim lightweight champion never really got going in the fight but it was a slick takedown that immediately transitioned into a rear-naked choke that allowed Chiesa to secure the win. Off three losses of his own, Chiesa obviously had a lot riding on the fight as well and he dispatched Ferguson in impressive fashion with the finish coming at 3:44 in the opening round.
Tony’s Time is over. Chiesa Sub 1. #UFCAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/CBWweN9Vgk
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) August 3, 2024
As happy as he was about the victory, Chiesa donated the majority of his post-fight interview to Ferguson after admitting that it was a “long road” to get back in the win column.
While he tried to show off some striking early, Ferguson eventually got taken to the ground where Chiesa quickly wrapped up the submission that eventually ended the fight. It was a hard pill for Ferguson to swallow but he removed his gloves while awaiting a chance to address the crowd in Abu Dhabi.
“I know I could have did better,” Ferguson said about his performance. “I’ve got to give it to Michael. He was just on point with that hook.”
Rather than announce his retirement, Ferguson opted to leave the door just slightly ajar because he wasn’t quite ready to call it a career, although it seems his run in the UFC is almost certainly over.
“I don’t want to retire,” Ferguson said. “I really don’t but I love the UFC and I don’t want to go anywhere else. So I’m not going to put both gloves down. I’m going to put one and I’m going to keep the other one just in case.”
If this is the end for Ferguson, his UFC run comes to a close as perhaps one of the greatest ‘what if’s’ in history after he chased a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov for years but the lightweight matchup just seemed cursed to never happen.
Still, Ferguson was an interim champion, a mainstay near the top of the rankings for so much of his time with the UFC and he always kept things interesting no matter what.
