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Former UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje voiced his opinion on Tony Ferguson, who had a 12-win series but has now lost two in a row.
One such loss came just before Gaethje, when he managed to knock out Ferguson in the fifth round of the UFC 249 tournament in May of last year.
El Cucuy received nearly 100 accentuated blows to the head until his body refused to accept more.
Ferguson returned to the cage at UFC 256, but failed to do so and had to acknowledge Charles Oliveira’s advantage after three rounds of one-sided fights.
Many believe that Ferguson’s best moment is in the past, while Gaethje expressed the opinion that he had never been an elite lightweight fighter.
“I don’t think he was an elite fighter,” Gaethje told ESPN. “I don’t understand why, but all their opponents were always going into that chaos and refusing to create space. I don’t know why Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone didn’t do what I did.
The fact that there were no fans really helped me stay focused. This is really important when you are fighting Tony because only his face makes you fight. I don’t think his prime is over, I just never thought he was an elite fighter. I think his skills were really effective when people fought like they were supposed to. “
While Gaethje doesn’t underestimate Oliveira’s win over Ferguson, he believes that no one can be as good in the long run at taking as much damage as Ferguson did.
“I was impressed by Oliveira, I don’t want to take anything away from him, but yes, Tony was not the same fighter,” Gaethje added. “No one would ever be the same person again after receiving so many blows to the face. Then he fights with less confidence, and it’s his self-confidence that has made him so dangerous. “
Speaking to MMA Junkie about the lightweight category, Gaethje said the UFC and its president, Dana White, had misbehaved with the division in recent months.
At present, the UFC has yet to take the lightweight champion title from Chabib Nurmagomedov, although he retired in October last year. Meanwhile, top ranked Dustin Poirier has expressed dissatisfaction with the UFC’s plans and is possibly refusing to fight former Bellator champion Michael Chandler due to the championship belt.
According to Gaethje, it all started at the UFC 256 tournament in October last year, when he fought Nurmagomedov for the title.
“The reason this happened to Poirier is that White named Chandler as a reserve fighter for the title fight. It all started four months ago. We are all human beings, we have our own principles and morals. I think by that Poirier says he will not fight Chandler. “
According to Gaethje, the fact that the UFC has named Chandler, a newcomer to the title fighter, has also caused that it has not been possible to fight between Ferguson and Poirier, and Poirier’s words after the victory against Conor McGregor mean that no feel respect. from the UFC president.
“It just came to our notice then.” You remember how unhappy Tony and Dustin were when they couldn’t fight each other, “Gaethje said.” They took 50 or 100,000. Contract dollars, so they disagreed, although they were ready to fight. This has been talked about in public and that is not true. So I know what Poirier is doing and why he doesn’t want to fight Chandler for the title, all because of what the UFC did in October. “
Gaethje himself did not fight for Nurmagomedov’s defeat, but now, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, attempts are being made to organize a duel between him and Chandler.
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