Former UFC interim champion Tony Ferguson has always been criticized for his unorthodox training methods but a new video has caused some concern.
Ferguson has been training with former US Navy Seal and endurance athlete David Goggins and has been posting clips of his "hell week" with Goggins. In one of those clips Ferguson is seen vomitting between trainings.
Thank you Coach🫡Goggins 🤝 UFC🔥296 Fight Prep ✔️ Have A Great Week Crew🍃 & Remember To Break A Sweat MF’as- Champ 🦹♂️ -CSO- 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 # As Coach D.Goggins Says “Stay🤜🤛Hard” # PaddyCakesGoingDown pic.twitter.com/2trWdKyDUy
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) November 7, 2023
Fans took to Twitter and Instagram to express their discomfort with the way Ferguson was training.
"but cardio and hard ain't your issue (never was)...Age is," someone commented on the video. Another fan wrote, "Bro PLEASE retire," while another commented, "Holy sh*t delete this."
Something about Tony Ferguson filming himself vomit and then uploading it to Twitter after working out with David Goggins just isn’t sitting right with me for some reason
— I AM SATURDAY (@MmaTwitr) November 10, 2023
David Goggins blasts UFC fans 'you have no idea what the f*ck you are talking about'
Now, days later Goggins has taken to his Instagram to blast fans who are concerned for Ferguson and questioning the way he's being trained.
“I see the comments that Tony should be sparring or be on the bag rather than doing this kind of cardio,” Goggins wrote in a lengthy post. “I can tell that the vast majority of you have no idea what the f*ck you are talking about. To have the guts- and I mean guts- to allow a motherf*cker like me to train him shows exactly his commitment to come back and win again."
Ferguson is riding a six fight win streak, including a brutal knockout and two back-to-back submissions.
“Many of you have no idea what it does to a human being’s mind when their body keeps saying to stop but their mind will not allow them to. There is a lesson to be learned here. He’s comfortable with you all seeing what he is going through because this is the exact kind of dedication it takes to reach greatness. Hard work is never pretty," Goggins continued. This is why it Watching a person work this hard and striving for greatness scares a lot of you. It’s okay. It used to scare me too. I used to be one of those guys making stupid comments about the ones who wanted it like there was no tomorrow. Stay hard.”
Ferguson is scheduled to fight Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 on Dec. 16. We'll have to wait to see how that fight goes before we know if the training was the right choice or not.