Tony Ferguson makes history in the worst possible way

At one time, Tony Ferguson was the most feared fighter in the lightweight division. Unfortunately, times have changed and Ferguson has likely tarnished that impressive legacy with his refusal to retire. Ferguson made history at UFC Abu Dhabi when he lost his 8th straight fight. The previous longest losing streak was former UFC champion BJ Penn with seven in a row.

Ferguson's bad luck started when he lost to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249, a fight that was supposed to be the highly anticipated match-up between him and now retired Khabib Nermagomedov. From there he dropped back-to-back fights with Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green, and Paddy Pimblett. His most recent loss came to Michael Chiesa on the main card of UFC Abu Dhabi. He lost via first-round submission.

Many, including UFC president Dana White, have been calling for Ferguson to retire. "I would love to see Tony retire," White said at the UFC 296 post-fight press conference. "When you talk about a skid, right, you look at the guys he fought, too. That plays a factor into it and how did he look right up until he lost? Tony, tonight, looked like he should retire."

Former UFC double champion Daniel Cormier also commented on the losses, “I do kind of think we are nearing the end. I don’t think Tony will be a guy though, who volunteers to go away. think that decisions is going to have to be made for him by someone else," Cormier said on his ESPN podcast Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael SonnenI mean, the UFC or he gets put out so bad that his family goes, ‘there is no more fighting for you Tony.”

At the UFC Abu Dhabi pre-fight media day Ferguson responded to White's comments saying, "Well, we want Dana to do a lot of s***, too. So, we can't discredit that one either. I mean, I'm being real with it at 170 pounds. I'm not killing myself to get to 155. I do feel fresher. 155 pounds is closer to my high school wrestling weight, 152 pounds. So you guys do the math. I'm 40 f****** years old. I've been competing in this sport for a very long time, all around in sports for over 35 years."

After the loss to Chiesa, Ferguson half-retired from MMA. "I don't want to retire, I really don't. I'm going to put one glove down and keep the other, just in case."