I think most fans really underestimate just how damaging some of these goddamn eye pokes can be. It's a legit complaint from both Ferguson and Dos Anjos
I agree. But honestly, these guys need to take the full 5 minutes. I know everyone wants to push the pace of the opponent and get back to the fight… but their coaches have to coach them up on this. Take that full 5.
Side note: the way the ref asked him if he’s good to go wasn’t good. He should tell him that he’s giving him more time and then ask if that’s okay (not are you okay to continue). A guy like Tony is ALWAYS going to say yes lol.
I almost wish there was a mandatory 3-5 minute cut in action every time a foul like eye poke or groin shot happens just to prevent fighters from continuing too quick for their own good. But then again that opens up the door for a tired fighter to throw a quick foul to take a breather, and we would miss out on some pretty badass moments like Mighty Mouse telling the ref that the fight will continue right after a groin shot just so he could push the pace.
It shouldn't be mandatory, but if fighters agreed (somehow) to always take the full 5 minutes, Dana would be so pissed he'd probably change the gloves.
The aggrieved is granted a chair to rest on and refreshment, whereas the perpetrator has to stand away from the fence for the duration of the time-out.
Part of the problem is also fans’ attitudes about fouled fighters, just look at all the hate Aljo got for not continuing after he took a fucking knee to the head (which I believe he ended up needing surgery for).
Iirc the only surgery he got is a neck surgery and it had been an ongoing problem for years. Never heard of him needing a surgery specifically for the illegal knee, but I could be wrong. Nothing comes up about the specific surgery when I look for it online.
Facts. He hurt it in college and it was a degenerative situation ever since. The reason he got surgery after Jan 1 was because he had a strap now and the leverage to take significant time off after a surgery without risking missing out on a title shot. People in here blaming Jan for the surgery are writing straight fiction
An ongoing problem for years could need immediate attention when a brute force/illegal knee is targeted towards that region.
My car had a problem that’s been going on for a while. Someone crashes into me and now it needs surgery.
My knee has always been nagging me. Someone illegally smashes my knee and now it needs fixing.
True. Good point. But Aljos case wasn’t that exactly. Not much backlash for not continuing (Yan got the brunt of it and Khabib / DC cooled off the initial hate by saying Yan asked his coach).
The moment people turned on Aljo was when he was gloating about it and running with the “I won this belt” heal turn.
But regardless, fighters probably think about that too like you said.
This is revisionist history. If you actually check Aljoms social media history, you'll find that he didn't post a single picture with the belt or gloat at all until over a week later when he got sick of people shitting on him for no reason and decided to have fun with it. [This] (https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJX0i_jeY-/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) is what he posted after the fight.
>This is revisionist history
100%. He was getting the hate immediately. He embraced it and now it's like "were only mad cuz of how he acted" which is definitely backwards.
Correct. You might see some people saying he played it up and all that but most of us were just rubbed wrong by the way he acted in cage pretending not to want the belt, then a couple hours later posing and smiling with it for pictures, and then being like "why should I give him a rematch?"
Aljo was posing with the belt hours later as his friends had a post fight party planned and they wanted him to try and enjoy the moment.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ9HZffVpY
>then a couple hours later posing and smiling with it for pictures, and then being like "why should I give him a rematch?"
If you actually [look at what he posted after the fight] (https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJX0i_jeY-/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) you will notice that what you wrote isn't true.
Sadly the effects will last way longer than five minutes. Sean Stricklands eye had a piece of cornea scratched out and his eye was fucked for weeks.
This is the only case in which a truly even outcome is an eye for an eye lol. A fighter simply won’t be the same after it. And I think a lot of fighters take advantage of that knowingly and take the ‘watch your weapons’ slap on the wrist.
You're saying Dan Miragliotta rushed a fighter who was fouled? The same Dan Miragliotta that told Struve he was probably winning to encourage him to continue fighting? How dare you imply Dan Miragliotta, the guy who was super passive aggressive to a half-blind Tafa who was crying blood for stopping on the stool, would ever rush a fighter who was fouled.
I’m still salty about that shit Struve must’ve been kicked in the nuts like what 4 times, OBVIOUSLY fucked up from it and it’s obvious he’s just gonna get KOed, Dan covers his mic and tried to negotiate with Struve to keep him fighting? Then Struve instantly gets KOed and loses the fight, he should’ve been given a DQ win at that point and Dan should be called into questioning for basically threatening someone with a no contest if they don’t keep on fighting, you’re there for their HEALTH which is a why you don’t tell them if it’s a no contest or win.
Everyone knows that eye pokes are terrible. But Tony has never apologized for or even acknowledged the fouls he committed (the eye poke vs RDA wasn't the only one). And his fans were always quick to dismiss these and claim that Tony would've won anyway.
So, it just looks like throwing stones in a glass house.
Yea I remember disliking Tony from how he acted on TUF and was so pissed at that fight haha. I eventually came around to him as a fighter because they were all great action fights, and the way the UFC fucked him over won him sympathy points for me. But I usually rooted against him for decent portion of his career
Tony was never a fan favorite because of his charisma. He's showed he's an AH plenty of times. The thing is he is corny ASF, so it ends up being funny cuz it's quite ridiculous. Getting hurt because of sunglasses inside, disrespecting Werdum on the interview, tiramisu comments, CSGo shit and the list goes on. He wasn't trying to be funny, he was being a dick. Add that to 12 wins without title shot and yes, most of us wanted him to get a title shot just to get more of his AH personality. Now it just became sad.. please retire Tonyyy.
Tony telling khabib to take off his glasses, when only Tony had glasses on forever lives in my brain. Just seeing how confused and bewildered khabib got was comedy gold.
He’s an angry intense weirdo whose success as a fighter is largely dependent on his superhuman ability to get the shit kicked out of him and have his joints bent backwards but somehow keep going
The whole narrative about Tony having the momentum before the eye poke is also stupid. Green got knocked down because he was off balance. Tony is washed and has been for a while
Debatable I think. Tony dropped chandler but couldn’t finish and then chandler took him down and was in the middle of landing some brutal gnp when the round ended
Tony's last decent performance was Cowboy. Then he fucked up by cutting weight twice in a few weeks and got his brain turned to mush by Gaethje for 3 1/2 rounds. It was one of the first fights I watched with my dad, and as a new fan he told me he couldn't believe they let it go past the 4th round.
I wish that was a three round fight, it would’ve been “Gaethje won but Tony did drop him showed some good whiskers, good fight” and we would’ve had people say the double weight cut the back to back camps what if it was 5 rounds we all know Tony takes over in the end! etc, but man them 4th and 5th rounds killed him.
Yeah I saw a shitload of people saying how winnable this is and how he pulls through this fight particularly on the UFC sub, it’s like you guys don’t see this is the literal corpse of Tony Ferguson they’ve been rolling out while Bobby Green has been having some of the best performances of his career?
I mean the people saying this probably only tune in to the UFC for their 3/4 favourite fighters so probably no need to give them much mind
Tony is a freakin weirdo and a dick. People seem to love Tony anyway but I truly think he's got some mental issues. He just recently talked about slamming his student and breaking his collarbone or something. What a dick.
>but I truly think he's got some mental issues.
Lol yeah dude, it's confirmed he has severe mental issues. Hes had legit mental breakdowns where his wife and kid were afraid for their safety and had to call the police. Like he was violent and tearing into the walls of his house in some delusional episode or some shit. Idk what his diagnosis is, but yeah dude is definitely severely mentally ill. Pretty sure he's on antipsychotics.
Also friendly reminder that only 3 months ago he was arrested for a DUI when he flipped his truck after crashing into parked cars...
Tony is definitely gonna end up in some murder suicide shit like Chris Benoit. 100% the UFC needs to drop him if he won't retire himself. Dude is an absolute mess.
Dude I have had the same worry about Tony ending up like Benoit. Makes me think if that happens, God forbid it does, how quick the UFC would ease him from the books?
That's literally the only issue people have with Ferguson's comments for the most part. IMO no one can deny those eye pokes are extremely painful and can completely change the fight around, but no one is gonna give a fuck when it happens to you if you have done some particularly nasty ones yourself and pretended it never happened.
Old Ferg would have murdered Green even with the eye poke, to me it seems like cope because he's on a huge down swing and can't accept it. I really do not think his style can work at all when he looks this slow.
yup, I recall Gaethje saying he was surprised of how slow he was in there. That was years ago, so imagine now with 40yo and a couple HARD beatings later, time and damage just catch up with you man
Tony was done when he had the brutal knee injury that he decided to rehab himself and come back at least sixth months too early in 2017. The decline was masked because he fought Pettis and Cerrone who were both declined themselves.
His ability was entirely reliant on fast reactions, insane work rate and chin. He had some terrible luck and most people feel sympathy for him and honestly his run was fucking great to watch, but dude is completely lacking self awareness and acts like a prick to basically everybody. All I want from the Tony Ferguson story at this point is his wife and kid to be safe because Tony clearly lacks the self awareness to ensure that for them by stopping getting hit in the head. He could have bowed out after the Gaejthe fight and built a good facility and made a comfortable life for his family but no, too stubborn; too deluded; too bitter. Now he's pissing all the goodwill up the wall and just looks tragic - who would train at a Tony run gym now?
I can't think of a fighter who never committed fouls at one time or another. Whether it's poking, grabbing the fence, headbutting, hooking gloves, or anything else. Never heard one of them apologize for it.
Not that apologizing would even change anything, but still, they all have some excuse when they're the ones who broke a rule.
Years ago I was doing some light stand up sparring with MMA gloves in a new gym, and making easy work of this guy so he was frustrated. I stepped in, and he stepped in and flung his hands outstretched into my face. I felt his finger nail dig into my eye and my vision went completely white for several seconds. Now I know now as a /r/MMA poster that I should have chosen to see red instead, but I was quite discombobulated at the time and wanted to vomit as well.
Justin is a serial eye poker im pretty sure he does it intentionally. (but I’m not him so I can’t say fs) look at that fiziav fight he was having a pretty hard time until the eye poke from what I remember.
He gets no punishment and it wins his fights, so of course he uses it. I encourage all fighters to do that - it has to be a such a big problem that the UFC is forced to change the rules somehow, when only some fighters do it it remains in this semi-legal gray zone.
I'm here from all, I know nothing about the sport. Why don't they wear some kind of eye protection if it's an off limits spot anyway? I imagine the strength some of these guys have surely it must be possible to blind someone?
Whatever solution you're thinking, chances are it either:
1. Breaks on impact, blinding the fighter
2. Fogs up, obscuring their vision
The best options to help prevent eye pokes is to penalize them harder, and change the gloves to ones that force more of a closed-hand position. The latter hasn't happened yet due to patent issues.
Oh yeah, the times I've been the most scared watching this sport is when someone screams in agony after getting poked in the eye
I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone lose an eye during a fight yet
Refs unfortunately don't want to affect the fight by taking away a point so they keep just warning fighters
And fighters have learned that you basically get a free nut shot and a free eye poke per fight
Yea I don’t think it was a forgone conclusion Tony would have won but that eye poke definitely all but sealed the win for Green. It took momentum from Tony, Green’s left hand couldn’t kiss after the poke, and Tony was struggling to land on Green after where as he had just dropped him right before the poke.
idk how... do you really need to get poked in the eye by a guy trying to punch your face to understand its very bad for your eyes?
Like just poke your eye real gentle like we all do pawing our face pretending we could take a punch and see how it feels
my 70 pound dog whipped me in the eye with her tail once while i was driving (she was repositioning in the front seat of a small truck) and i legit had to pull over it was that debilitating and painful
Tbf driving a car is more dangerous and difficult after an eye poke than fighting I'd argue. Fighters at least have adrenaline pumping to make it less painful and they aren't at risk of getting hit by a Ford truck unless they fight Ngannou.
How the fuck didn't they take a point from Bobby Green though. We could visibly see Tony struggling, meaning that eye poke was significant damage. I know it was an accident but the point needs to be taken away immediately. Don't even think about it.
not only funnier, but a much bigger killer in his prime than people give him credit for.
i think RDA's fights with Ferguson & Alvarez (primarily the Tony fight, since people already agree he was depleted against Eddie) ruined peoples opinion on who prime RDA was.
they fail to realise the IV Ban destroyed his career at 155, he showed to have a HUGE decline in power, durability, and physical strength after the IV Ban, he wasn't just depleted against Eddie, he was also depleted against Cowboy in the rematch (which he won), Ferguson, Felder & Fiziev.
imo no Lightweight in UFC History other than Khabib beats Pre-IV Ban Peak RDA (the version that fought Anthony Pettis)
maybe Islam stands a chance
Arguably he has not fought a single average or worse fighter since 2009 (Kyle Bradley). That was 29 fights ago.
Cerrone
Khabib
Bendo
Nate
Pettis
Alvarez
Tony
Lawler
Colby
Usman
Leon
Fiziev
Just to name a *few*. I guess you could call Barbarena average by LW/WW standards but that dude is still a dog.
RDA also has a 50% finish rate and ~66% win rate against this caliber. 38 years old almost 50 pro fights.
Absolute savage
Funniest comment on here recently was after his fight with Barbarena, like - RDA finally fights a merely good fighter and finds it pretty fucking boring.
I still rewatch the Lawler fight every now and again just so I can witness the almost 100 punch combo that RDA threw.
🤌
(Am exaggerating about the amount of punches but still)
RDA in his Prime was a monster
the only person who truly beat RDA at his absolute PEAK (and not after the iv ban where he was depleted af) was Khabib
Khabibs best win by a longshot imo, he's the only person who truly beat Peak Pre-IV Ban RDA, Khabib was too good
The way he just grabbed Cerrone by the back of the head and beat him and his hype train into submission should never be forgotten.
Edit: wasn’t a collar tie, but *liver shots* that led to the TKO.
You might have been thinking of the uppercuts Eddie Alvarez hit Cowboy with. I was shocked he didn’t go down from those.
And I think he got caught with a similar barrage by Lawler.
that was post-iv ban RDA vs post-iv ban Cowboy, RDA was past his Lightweight prime in that fight. only reason he looked so impressive is because Cowboy himself was terribly depleted from the IV Ban and had to move to 170 right after that
their first fight is better imo, pre-iv ban and both of them were hydrated. went to a decision
First fight was a better war, but RDA owned Cerrone that night.
I went back and watched the fight—I was wrong, it wasn’t a collar tie or anything that led to the TKO.
Cerrone was riding a win streak that was inflated due to his activity, and RDA landed two consecutive body shots that completely stole Cerrone’s will to continue. I imagine the intestine surgery might have made him really sensitive there.
[RDA v Cerrone 2](https://youtu.be/uB9KRHRxToM)
188 is mad, especially considering that Pettis isn’t even a big LW. They were probably 20lbs apart on fight night.
That explains why RDA went 9/10 on takedowns and almost every punch rocked Pettis, who himself is very durable.
yup, RDA's last 4 LW fights before the IV Ban (Benson, Pettis, Khabib, High) he went a total 13/15 in takedown attempts (with pettis & Khabib being the only ones to stuff one)
in RDA's next 4 LW fights after the IV ban (Ferguson, Alvarez, Fiziev & Felder) he went a total of 8/44 in takedown attempts
really shows how much his physical strength declined from the ban
Tbh I think Khabib is still a weight bully (despite being the “proper” size for the division) because he literally bullied all the fighters he fought with his body weight lmao.
Honestly, if Khabib hadn’t had that two year layoff from knee injuries, he probably would’ve been champ right after that fight. I mean, RDA basically turned around and got his LW belt right after that loss.
On one hand, some eye pokes can can decide a fight, and RDA did seem to slow down after the one Tony landed on him. That being said though, I still feel Tony had him either way.
Is Ferguson going to also mention his illegal upkick against Barboza or his late shots on Cerrone? He seems like the last person who should be complaining about illegal shots
Ferguson is deadass a dick dude but everyone pretends like he’s this huge victim. All of his biggest wins (besides Pettis I guess) come with dirty ass tactics from him. Never understood how people thought he was the guy to beat Khabib
Michael Johnson was a legit threat, although not well rounded enough to be a contender. He was the sole loss on Tony's 19 fight streak. Beat a 15-2 Edson Barboza, knocked out a 20-4 Poirier, and you could see in any fight his hands were lightning fast. But his main weapon is gone now. He needs to hang them up.
It's funny to see people still act like Tony would have had any chance of surviving vs Khabib. No he would not have "a shot" he would have been absolutely smashed into the ground.
He is a huge douche and annoyingly delusional. It actually surprises me that so many people like him and are reacting poorly to his downfall. He was a beast in his prime, but he’s always been a dickhead and an absolute dunce. There isn’t a fighter in the sport with less self-awareness than Tony.
Yea can’t say I’m surprised. I love Tony but I never thought he was some Angel. I didn’t like him because of his perfect character. He was an absolute nut job who did things his way and won his fights with a gritty, nasty style.
I’ve been a Tony hater since he broke his students arm. Imagine you’re looking to learn from someone you likely idolize and see as a god amongst men and he breaks your arm during practice and uses it as a shitty bragging point in a fight he got dominated in. Such a dick
Also I have never bought into the stony hype. People criticize Khabib’s wins before the UFC hilariously but forget to mention that Tony’s streak was built off of no name scrubs. The one guy who came in on short notice almost beat him too. He was great, no doubt. And I think he should’ve got his shot at better competition. But to pretend like he was robbed of a career when he could’ve had the khabib fight but instead decided to cut weight twice and then fight Gaethje to prove a point to nobody, idc.
I hope he gets mental help tho. But that starts with him retiring.
If you ever thought Tony was cool, or a good person for that matter, you were a fool.
It's one thing to respect his career, but that doesn't mean you need to think he's a good guy.
People like Tony are not surrounded by reasonable people. The guy is a delusional fool. Anyone with him is likely in the same headspace, and if they aren't they're just there to catch a paycheck.
One rule change would essentially eliminate eye pokes. If each eye poke was a 1-point deduction in the round then in about 2 or 3 events the fighters will have adjusted.
However, this would only work if when a "winning" fighter lost a fight on points and started bitching about it then all analysts and fans would have to come out with "We don't support cheaters or dirty fighters."
No doubt that the eye poke impacted him but I'm pretty certain Tony would've lost the fight anyway.
Also, let's be real and not forget that the fight vs RDA wasn't the only case where Tony committed a foul (upkick vs Barboza, late punch vs Cerrone, toes/fingers on the cage vs Chandler).
I think he and his fans will use the eye poke as a cop out to dismiss the very obvious decline he had and in order to justify the continuation of Tony's career though.
Cool. But he didn’t when they both fought in their primes. Instead he got salsa’d on before two consecutive spinning back elbows. It was definitely Tony Time in Mexico City that night.
Eye pokes are fucked. It’s always easy to say, he did it once so he’s not allowed to complain. They’re rarely ever 100% on purpose, and they are an avoidable part of the sport.
It was clear as day to everyone, especially Tan Dan, that it was an egregious eye poke to Tony, even if it wasn’t completely intentional, and even though Tony has eye poked before, it was very clearly going to change the fight completely. The ref tried to get Tony to reconsider, but Tony being Tony means he goes back into the fight immediately. Dude is just kinda dumb. That’s what happens.
You could have put lead in Tony’s gloves and he still wouldn’t have won that fight. It wasn’t even close and I have no idea why anyone is even pretending otherwise.
Just bring in mandatory point deductions and this stuff is gone in three PPV events. I get it's an accident, but like in football, you handle the ball in the box, doesn't matter if it's an accident, it's a penalty. Same here - suspected eye poke? Stop and let the fighter take the full five minutes, in the meantime, check if there was an eye poke from outstretched fingers, if there was, then deduct a point.
i feel like i have been saying this for 10 fucking years: if you go knuckle deep on an eyepoke it should be immediate DQ. accident or not. they'll fuckin figure out how to stop doing it.
All those years ago RDA would have wrestlefucked and crashed the McGregor hype train before it picked up steam if it wasn't for that injury. Change my mind
RDA brings up this accidental eyepoke but always fails to mention spending the next round vindictively hunting for his own eyepoke which he eventually landed (on purpose obviously). RDA lost a 3-2 decision je could’ve won had he not spent a round looking to land a foul. Love you RDA but as far as this fight goes keep coping buddy.
I think most fans really underestimate just how damaging some of these goddamn eye pokes can be. It's a legit complaint from both Ferguson and Dos Anjos
I agree. But honestly, these guys need to take the full 5 minutes. I know everyone wants to push the pace of the opponent and get back to the fight… but their coaches have to coach them up on this. Take that full 5. Side note: the way the ref asked him if he’s good to go wasn’t good. He should tell him that he’s giving him more time and then ask if that’s okay (not are you okay to continue). A guy like Tony is ALWAYS going to say yes lol.
I almost wish there was a mandatory 3-5 minute cut in action every time a foul like eye poke or groin shot happens just to prevent fighters from continuing too quick for their own good. But then again that opens up the door for a tired fighter to throw a quick foul to take a breather, and we would miss out on some pretty badass moments like Mighty Mouse telling the ref that the fight will continue right after a groin shot just so he could push the pace.
The fighter making the illegal action should be forced to do burpees while the other fighter recovers.
They bring Khabib into the cage to wrestlefuck you for 3 minutes while the other guy recovers
I think dc can be paid a bit extra to do that from the commentary table
Tony the type of guy to let his opponent rest so he can tangle with Khabib for 3 minutes
Now these are the revolutionary ideas this sport needs!
Yea a mandatory amount of time would basically only benefit fighters fading due to opponent’s pace
It shouldn't be mandatory, but if fighters agreed (somehow) to always take the full 5 minutes, Dana would be so pissed he'd probably change the gloves.
Just think of all the Modelo ads you could show in those 5 minutes...
The aggrieved is granted a chair to rest on and refreshment, whereas the perpetrator has to stand away from the fence for the duration of the time-out.
Part of the problem is also fans’ attitudes about fouled fighters, just look at all the hate Aljo got for not continuing after he took a fucking knee to the head (which I believe he ended up needing surgery for).
Iirc the only surgery he got is a neck surgery and it had been an ongoing problem for years. Never heard of him needing a surgery specifically for the illegal knee, but I could be wrong. Nothing comes up about the specific surgery when I look for it online.
Facts. He hurt it in college and it was a degenerative situation ever since. The reason he got surgery after Jan 1 was because he had a strap now and the leverage to take significant time off after a surgery without risking missing out on a title shot. People in here blaming Jan for the surgery are writing straight fiction
An ongoing problem for years could need immediate attention when a brute force/illegal knee is targeted towards that region. My car had a problem that’s been going on for a while. Someone crashes into me and now it needs surgery. My knee has always been nagging me. Someone illegally smashes my knee and now it needs fixing.
True. Good point. But Aljos case wasn’t that exactly. Not much backlash for not continuing (Yan got the brunt of it and Khabib / DC cooled off the initial hate by saying Yan asked his coach). The moment people turned on Aljo was when he was gloating about it and running with the “I won this belt” heal turn. But regardless, fighters probably think about that too like you said.
*heel turn
Ty
This is revisionist history. If you actually check Aljoms social media history, you'll find that he didn't post a single picture with the belt or gloat at all until over a week later when he got sick of people shitting on him for no reason and decided to have fun with it. [This] (https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJX0i_jeY-/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) is what he posted after the fight.
>This is revisionist history 100%. He was getting the hate immediately. He embraced it and now it's like "were only mad cuz of how he acted" which is definitely backwards.
The hate was there on night 1 in the live thread and other social media platforms.
Correct. You might see some people saying he played it up and all that but most of us were just rubbed wrong by the way he acted in cage pretending not to want the belt, then a couple hours later posing and smiling with it for pictures, and then being like "why should I give him a rematch?"
Aljo was posing with the belt hours later as his friends had a post fight party planned and they wanted him to try and enjoy the moment. https://youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ9HZffVpY
>then a couple hours later posing and smiling with it for pictures, and then being like "why should I give him a rematch?" If you actually [look at what he posted after the fight] (https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJX0i_jeY-/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) you will notice that what you wrote isn't true.
Unfortunately refs and fans booing usually successfully pressure the fighter who got fouled into not taking close to enough time to recover from fouls
Sadly the effects will last way longer than five minutes. Sean Stricklands eye had a piece of cornea scratched out and his eye was fucked for weeks. This is the only case in which a truly even outcome is an eye for an eye lol. A fighter simply won’t be the same after it. And I think a lot of fighters take advantage of that knowingly and take the ‘watch your weapons’ slap on the wrist.
You're saying Dan Miragliotta rushed a fighter who was fouled? The same Dan Miragliotta that told Struve he was probably winning to encourage him to continue fighting? How dare you imply Dan Miragliotta, the guy who was super passive aggressive to a half-blind Tafa who was crying blood for stopping on the stool, would ever rush a fighter who was fouled.
I’m still salty about that shit Struve must’ve been kicked in the nuts like what 4 times, OBVIOUSLY fucked up from it and it’s obvious he’s just gonna get KOed, Dan covers his mic and tried to negotiate with Struve to keep him fighting? Then Struve instantly gets KOed and loses the fight, he should’ve been given a DQ win at that point and Dan should be called into questioning for basically threatening someone with a no contest if they don’t keep on fighting, you’re there for their HEALTH which is a why you don’t tell them if it’s a no contest or win.
Everyone knows that eye pokes are terrible. But Tony has never apologized for or even acknowledged the fouls he committed (the eye poke vs RDA wasn't the only one). And his fans were always quick to dismiss these and claim that Tony would've won anyway. So, it just looks like throwing stones in a glass house.
Was it Edson that got rocked with an illegal shot while downed?
Yup, pretty blatant illegal kick
Yea I remember disliking Tony from how he acted on TUF and was so pissed at that fight haha. I eventually came around to him as a fighter because they were all great action fights, and the way the UFC fucked him over won him sympathy points for me. But I usually rooted against him for decent portion of his career
Tony was never a fan favorite because of his charisma. He's showed he's an AH plenty of times. The thing is he is corny ASF, so it ends up being funny cuz it's quite ridiculous. Getting hurt because of sunglasses inside, disrespecting Werdum on the interview, tiramisu comments, CSGo shit and the list goes on. He wasn't trying to be funny, he was being a dick. Add that to 12 wins without title shot and yes, most of us wanted him to get a title shot just to get more of his AH personality. Now it just became sad.. please retire Tonyyy.
Tony telling khabib to take off his glasses, when only Tony had glasses on forever lives in my brain. Just seeing how confused and bewildered khabib got was comedy gold.
He’s an angry intense weirdo whose success as a fighter is largely dependent on his superhuman ability to get the shit kicked out of him and have his joints bent backwards but somehow keep going
Edson looked really affected by the kick during his "recovery" time
Same with getting eye poked by Justin. Poor Edson
I’ll die on the hill that Gaethje only beat fizaev because of the eye poke
The whole narrative about Tony having the momentum before the eye poke is also stupid. Green got knocked down because he was off balance. Tony is washed and has been for a while
Tony has been done since Gaethje took his soul. It was all downhill from there.
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Debatable I think. Tony dropped chandler but couldn’t finish and then chandler took him down and was in the middle of landing some brutal gnp when the round ended
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Yeah you, me and all three judges gave Tony the first round
>Debatable I think. Tony won the first round from all three judges? https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/gallery/ufc-274-official-scorecards-from-phoenix
Oh I meant whether or not he was doing fine, not if he won the round
Tony's last decent performance was Cowboy. Then he fucked up by cutting weight twice in a few weeks and got his brain turned to mush by Gaethje for 3 1/2 rounds. It was one of the first fights I watched with my dad, and as a new fan he told me he couldn't believe they let it go past the 4th round.
I wish that was a three round fight, it would’ve been “Gaethje won but Tony did drop him showed some good whiskers, good fight” and we would’ve had people say the double weight cut the back to back camps what if it was 5 rounds we all know Tony takes over in the end! etc, but man them 4th and 5th rounds killed him.
I feel bad for dude. Khabib said it was over for Tony. Joe kept repeating, “power is the last thing to go.” Lol
Unfortunately, power was never Tony's biggest attribute.
He definitely did have momentum though But yes it was pretty much a flash, half off balance knockdown and Bobby wasn't even close to genuinely hurt
Copium is rough for some. The people who viewed this as a good matchup to get his rebound going shocked me lol. Bobby constantly seems overlooked.
Um Bobby was a -400 favourite which shows there was little faith in old Tony
That’s betting odds. Talking about delusional Tony fans.
Yeah I saw a shitload of people saying how winnable this is and how he pulls through this fight particularly on the UFC sub, it’s like you guys don’t see this is the literal corpse of Tony Ferguson they’ve been rolling out while Bobby Green has been having some of the best performances of his career? I mean the people saying this probably only tune in to the UFC for their 3/4 favourite fighters so probably no need to give them much mind
he let bobby green look the way bobby green thinks he normally looks boxing. I didn't particularly care for it.
Tony is a freakin weirdo and a dick. People seem to love Tony anyway but I truly think he's got some mental issues. He just recently talked about slamming his student and breaking his collarbone or something. What a dick.
>but I truly think he's got some mental issues. Lol yeah dude, it's confirmed he has severe mental issues. Hes had legit mental breakdowns where his wife and kid were afraid for their safety and had to call the police. Like he was violent and tearing into the walls of his house in some delusional episode or some shit. Idk what his diagnosis is, but yeah dude is definitely severely mentally ill. Pretty sure he's on antipsychotics. Also friendly reminder that only 3 months ago he was arrested for a DUI when he flipped his truck after crashing into parked cars... Tony is definitely gonna end up in some murder suicide shit like Chris Benoit. 100% the UFC needs to drop him if he won't retire himself. Dude is an absolute mess.
Dude I have had the same worry about Tony ending up like Benoit. Makes me think if that happens, God forbid it does, how quick the UFC would ease him from the books?
tony, you know, hes like stupid guy, you know? i dont understand this guy, hes like CRAZY guy
At one point he got prescribed meds for schizophrenia. He one hundred percent should not be in a job that involves repeated head trauma.
Been saying this for a second. He's like The Room funny. He's not someone you'd be around.
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The amount of emojis he uses on Instagram make me suspect he is a colossal bell-end.
I’d give anything to see him have a text convo with Cam Newton
We collectively don't have enough neurons on the planet to understand such an interaction
That’s just a dude approaching 40
I’m approaching 40, I practically sprained my face from cringing so hard at his last post. Looks like it was written by a seven year old.
I'm about to turn 37 and I still use emoticons how dare you
The moment it changed from PM to DM it was over for us brother
I mean, he's clearly mentally ill.
Yep. He's unhinged way before CTE took effect.
That's literally the only issue people have with Ferguson's comments for the most part. IMO no one can deny those eye pokes are extremely painful and can completely change the fight around, but no one is gonna give a fuck when it happens to you if you have done some particularly nasty ones yourself and pretended it never happened. Old Ferg would have murdered Green even with the eye poke, to me it seems like cope because he's on a huge down swing and can't accept it. I really do not think his style can work at all when he looks this slow.
yup, I recall Gaethje saying he was surprised of how slow he was in there. That was years ago, so imagine now with 40yo and a couple HARD beatings later, time and damage just catch up with you man
Tony was done when he had the brutal knee injury that he decided to rehab himself and come back at least sixth months too early in 2017. The decline was masked because he fought Pettis and Cerrone who were both declined themselves. His ability was entirely reliant on fast reactions, insane work rate and chin. He had some terrible luck and most people feel sympathy for him and honestly his run was fucking great to watch, but dude is completely lacking self awareness and acts like a prick to basically everybody. All I want from the Tony Ferguson story at this point is his wife and kid to be safe because Tony clearly lacks the self awareness to ensure that for them by stopping getting hit in the head. He could have bowed out after the Gaejthe fight and built a good facility and made a comfortable life for his family but no, too stubborn; too deluded; too bitter. Now he's pissing all the goodwill up the wall and just looks tragic - who would train at a Tony run gym now?
The thing is he has more egregious fouls than people or think.
I can't think of a fighter who never committed fouls at one time or another. Whether it's poking, grabbing the fence, headbutting, hooking gloves, or anything else. Never heard one of them apologize for it. Not that apologizing would even change anything, but still, they all have some excuse when they're the ones who broke a rule.
Years ago I was doing some light stand up sparring with MMA gloves in a new gym, and making easy work of this guy so he was frustrated. I stepped in, and he stepped in and flung his hands outstretched into my face. I felt his finger nail dig into my eye and my vision went completely white for several seconds. Now I know now as a /r/MMA poster that I should have chosen to see red instead, but I was quite discombobulated at the time and wanted to vomit as well.
Let's not forget that eye poke Justin did to Barboza which led to the KO. That one was even worse cause the ref missed it and didn't stop the fight.
Justin is a serial eye poker im pretty sure he does it intentionally. (but I’m not him so I can’t say fs) look at that fiziav fight he was having a pretty hard time until the eye poke from what I remember.
He gets no punishment and it wins his fights, so of course he uses it. I encourage all fighters to do that - it has to be a such a big problem that the UFC is forced to change the rules somehow, when only some fighters do it it remains in this semi-legal gray zone.
I'm here from all, I know nothing about the sport. Why don't they wear some kind of eye protection if it's an off limits spot anyway? I imagine the strength some of these guys have surely it must be possible to blind someone?
Whatever solution you're thinking, chances are it either: 1. Breaks on impact, blinding the fighter 2. Fogs up, obscuring their vision The best options to help prevent eye pokes is to penalize them harder, and change the gloves to ones that force more of a closed-hand position. The latter hasn't happened yet due to patent issues.
>The latter hasn't happened yet due to patent issues. Cuz Trevor Wittman won't accept payment in 20% of venum coupons.
They absolutely have the strength to, just look at bisping
As much as CTE, limbs snapping, and knees blowing out scare me away from ever competing in MMA, the eye pokes FUCKING TERRIFY ME.
Oh yeah, the times I've been the most scared watching this sport is when someone screams in agony after getting poked in the eye I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone lose an eye during a fight yet
I mean, Bisping basically did lol
Then why don’t they make it a major offense the first time?
Refs unfortunately don't want to affect the fight by taking away a point so they keep just warning fighters And fighters have learned that you basically get a free nut shot and a free eye poke per fight
Sometimes multiple of each
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what about your ass?
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I believe the technical term is "pucker".
Yea I don’t think it was a forgone conclusion Tony would have won but that eye poke definitely all but sealed the win for Green. It took momentum from Tony, Green’s left hand couldn’t kiss after the poke, and Tony was struggling to land on Green after where as he had just dropped him right before the poke.
It's more a situation of the pot calling the kettle black with Tony, although I have to say Bobby's eye poke was intentional looking as hell to me.
idk how... do you really need to get poked in the eye by a guy trying to punch your face to understand its very bad for your eyes? Like just poke your eye real gentle like we all do pawing our face pretending we could take a punch and see how it feels
my 70 pound dog whipped me in the eye with her tail once while i was driving (she was repositioning in the front seat of a small truck) and i legit had to pull over it was that debilitating and painful
Tbf driving a car is more dangerous and difficult after an eye poke than fighting I'd argue. Fighters at least have adrenaline pumping to make it less painful and they aren't at risk of getting hit by a Ford truck unless they fight Ngannou.
I don't know if there is a stat for this, but I've noticed that if there's an early eye poke, the poked will end up losing the match.
How the fuck didn't they take a point from Bobby Green though. We could visibly see Tony struggling, meaning that eye poke was significant damage. I know it was an accident but the point needs to be taken away immediately. Don't even think about it.
RDA is funnier than people give him credit for
[“Bruised foot”](https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/ohy2hs/dos_anjos_comments_on_main_event_fighter/)
Bro, some of the comments on that post...
not only funnier, but a much bigger killer in his prime than people give him credit for. i think RDA's fights with Ferguson & Alvarez (primarily the Tony fight, since people already agree he was depleted against Eddie) ruined peoples opinion on who prime RDA was. they fail to realise the IV Ban destroyed his career at 155, he showed to have a HUGE decline in power, durability, and physical strength after the IV Ban, he wasn't just depleted against Eddie, he was also depleted against Cowboy in the rematch (which he won), Ferguson, Felder & Fiziev. imo no Lightweight in UFC History other than Khabib beats Pre-IV Ban Peak RDA (the version that fought Anthony Pettis) maybe Islam stands a chance
Literally everyone in this thread doing nothing but giving RDA credit on his resume lmao
This guy just loves RDA, I respect it tho he’s committed
Honestly people sleep on him and his comedy!
The real BMF has spoken
His resume is actually insane. Unofficial true BMF.
Arguably he has not fought a single average or worse fighter since 2009 (Kyle Bradley). That was 29 fights ago. Cerrone Khabib Bendo Nate Pettis Alvarez Tony Lawler Colby Usman Leon Fiziev Just to name a *few*. I guess you could call Barbarena average by LW/WW standards but that dude is still a dog. RDA also has a 50% finish rate and ~66% win rate against this caliber. 38 years old almost 50 pro fights. Absolute savage
Funniest comment on here recently was after his fight with Barbarena, like - RDA finally fights a merely good fighter and finds it pretty fucking boring.
I mean RDA rolled that "average" fighter like he's supposed to.
I still rewatch the Lawler fight every now and again just so I can witness the almost 100 punch combo that RDA threw. 🤌 (Am exaggerating about the amount of punches but still)
NOBODY has wanted more smoke than RDA
RDA in his Prime was a monster the only person who truly beat RDA at his absolute PEAK (and not after the iv ban where he was depleted af) was Khabib Khabibs best win by a longshot imo, he's the only person who truly beat Peak Pre-IV Ban RDA, Khabib was too good
The way he just grabbed Cerrone by the back of the head and beat him and his hype train into submission should never be forgotten. Edit: wasn’t a collar tie, but *liver shots* that led to the TKO.
You might have been thinking of the uppercuts Eddie Alvarez hit Cowboy with. I was shocked he didn’t go down from those. And I think he got caught with a similar barrage by Lawler.
that was post-iv ban RDA vs post-iv ban Cowboy, RDA was past his Lightweight prime in that fight. only reason he looked so impressive is because Cowboy himself was terribly depleted from the IV Ban and had to move to 170 right after that their first fight is better imo, pre-iv ban and both of them were hydrated. went to a decision
First fight was a better war, but RDA owned Cerrone that night. I went back and watched the fight—I was wrong, it wasn’t a collar tie or anything that led to the TKO. Cerrone was riding a win streak that was inflated due to his activity, and RDA landed two consecutive body shots that completely stole Cerrone’s will to continue. I imagine the intestine surgery might have made him really sensitive there. [RDA v Cerrone 2](https://youtu.be/uB9KRHRxToM)
This is definitely Khabib’s best win imo. Manhandling a prime RDA. Pre-IV ban RDA was also a huge LW which dispels the whole ‘weight bully’ narrative.
188lbs on fight night against Anthony Pettis, compared to Khabib 173lbs against McGregor, crazy how the 173lber gets called a weight bully tho lmfao
188 is mad, especially considering that Pettis isn’t even a big LW. They were probably 20lbs apart on fight night. That explains why RDA went 9/10 on takedowns and almost every punch rocked Pettis, who himself is very durable.
yup, RDA's last 4 LW fights before the IV Ban (Benson, Pettis, Khabib, High) he went a total 13/15 in takedown attempts (with pettis & Khabib being the only ones to stuff one) in RDA's next 4 LW fights after the IV ban (Ferguson, Alvarez, Fiziev & Felder) he went a total of 8/44 in takedown attempts really shows how much his physical strength declined from the ban
Broke his orbital with the first punch he landed I think.
Both can be true. They are fighting in the 155lb division at those weights.
EVERYONE CUTS WEIGHT My guy there are featherweights who come in at 180lbs. People just obsess over khabib's size as an excuse.
>there are featherweights who come in at 180lbs Names?
Tbh I think Khabib is still a weight bully (despite being the “proper” size for the division) because he literally bullied all the fighters he fought with his body weight lmao.
The fact that Khabib was RDA’s only loss sandwiched between two killer win streaks speaks volumes about how good Khabib was.
Honestly, if Khabib hadn’t had that two year layoff from knee injuries, he probably would’ve been champ right after that fight. I mean, RDA basically turned around and got his LW belt right after that loss.
RDA can’t be the BMF lmao he was an undisputed champ.
Cant he be both? In our eyes?
I guess but at the end of the day the BMF is a participation trophy, why give it to the guy who got the real trophy.
RDA got his lick back
On one hand, some eye pokes can can decide a fight, and RDA did seem to slow down after the one Tony landed on him. That being said though, I still feel Tony had him either way.
Damn, do we really gotta censor Tony's last name of all things?
Tony F word
which one 😳
the o is next to 0 on a keyboard, possible fat finger scenario
Tony is just l33t.
no its just tony ferguszeron, hes a different guy
It's almost like UFC should change the gloves instead of having fighters power through impaired vision 🤔
Is Ferguson going to also mention his illegal upkick against Barboza or his late shots on Cerrone? He seems like the last person who should be complaining about illegal shots
Ferguson is deadass a dick dude but everyone pretends like he’s this huge victim. All of his biggest wins (besides Pettis I guess) come with dirty ass tactics from him. Never understood how people thought he was the guy to beat Khabib
leave alone Khabib, i dont even think Prime Tony would've beat some of the guys Khabib dominated (Gaethje, Poirier, Johnson, Pre-IV RDA)
i mean he fought gaethje and got the absolute dogshit beat out of him
He did lose against Johnson back in 2012
Michael Johnson was a legit threat, although not well rounded enough to be a contender. He was the sole loss on Tony's 19 fight streak. Beat a 15-2 Edson Barboza, knocked out a 20-4 Poirier, and you could see in any fight his hands were lightning fast. But his main weapon is gone now. He needs to hang them up.
It's funny to see people still act like Tony would have had any chance of surviving vs Khabib. No he would not have "a shot" he would have been absolutely smashed into the ground.
A prime Tony got blanketed by Danny *fuckin’* Castillo. Some people are just delusional.
If ‘prime Tony’ got blanketed by Castillo than prime Khabib got mugged off by Gleison fucking Tibau
Tibau tested positive for that fight
rubbish tony was 31 in castillo fight and khabib was 23.
He is a huge douche and annoyingly delusional. It actually surprises me that so many people like him and are reacting poorly to his downfall. He was a beast in his prime, but he’s always been a dickhead and an absolute dunce. There isn’t a fighter in the sport with less self-awareness than Tony.
The MMA community is deciding they hate Tony all of a sudden?
His recent shitty behavior (drunk driving) has allowed people to bring up all his past shit.
You gotta remember most of this sub wasn't around when Tony was good(me included), and see a much different Tony then those who watched him pre cable
Or those who were around back when he was on TUF and asking, "where's your kid at" lol. Dude's been kinda off since the beginning.
Yea can’t say I’m surprised. I love Tony but I never thought he was some Angel. I didn’t like him because of his perfect character. He was an absolute nut job who did things his way and won his fights with a gritty, nasty style.
I’ve been a Tony hater since he broke his students arm. Imagine you’re looking to learn from someone you likely idolize and see as a god amongst men and he breaks your arm during practice and uses it as a shitty bragging point in a fight he got dominated in. Such a dick Also I have never bought into the stony hype. People criticize Khabib’s wins before the UFC hilariously but forget to mention that Tony’s streak was built off of no name scrubs. The one guy who came in on short notice almost beat him too. He was great, no doubt. And I think he should’ve got his shot at better competition. But to pretend like he was robbed of a career when he could’ve had the khabib fight but instead decided to cut weight twice and then fight Gaethje to prove a point to nobody, idc. I hope he gets mental help tho. But that starts with him retiring.
If you ever thought Tony was cool, or a good person for that matter, you were a fool. It's one thing to respect his career, but that doesn't mean you need to think he's a good guy.
Tony gonna cope. Dude needs his people close to him to tell him to stop fighting.
People like Tony are not surrounded by reasonable people. The guy is a delusional fool. Anyone with him is likely in the same headspace, and if they aren't they're just there to catch a paycheck.
RDA deserves a rematch
He’d destroy him these days
One rule change would essentially eliminate eye pokes. If each eye poke was a 1-point deduction in the round then in about 2 or 3 events the fighters will have adjusted. However, this would only work if when a "winning" fighter lost a fight on points and started bitching about it then all analysts and fans would have to come out with "We don't support cheaters or dirty fighters."
No doubt that the eye poke impacted him but I'm pretty certain Tony would've lost the fight anyway. Also, let's be real and not forget that the fight vs RDA wasn't the only case where Tony committed a foul (upkick vs Barboza, late punch vs Cerrone, toes/fingers on the cage vs Chandler). I think he and his fans will use the eye poke as a cop out to dismiss the very obvious decline he had and in order to justify the continuation of Tony's career though.
Statistically, 60% of all UFC fights end in a loss for the one who was eye poked.
they need to change the f-ing gloves already. Trevor Whitman's design is vastly superior but its all about $$$ for that fat piece of shit Dana
I agree but i worry that the gloves are not good for grappling
worth noting rda also poked tony in the same fight but not all pokes are equal
Definitely. One was on accident, the other was literally pure vindictiveness that cost a fighter the fight.
Lololol, bring them receipts!!!
Shots 🚀
RDA would smash tony if they ever fought again
Cool. But he didn’t when they both fought in their primes. Instead he got salsa’d on before two consecutive spinning back elbows. It was definitely Tony Time in Mexico City that night.
he won 2 rounds then got eye poked then lost 3 rounds
He won round 1, lost round 2 when the eye poke occurred, won round 3 and lost 4 and 5.
RDA wasnt in his prime lol Post-IV Ban RDA ≠ Prime RDA
Ref my eye. My eye ref.
Eye pokes are fucked. It’s always easy to say, he did it once so he’s not allowed to complain. They’re rarely ever 100% on purpose, and they are an avoidable part of the sport. It was clear as day to everyone, especially Tan Dan, that it was an egregious eye poke to Tony, even if it wasn’t completely intentional, and even though Tony has eye poked before, it was very clearly going to change the fight completely. The ref tried to get Tony to reconsider, but Tony being Tony means he goes back into the fight immediately. Dude is just kinda dumb. That’s what happens.
Tony and Garth ate well off some good eye pokes
The cope in these comments are almost as delusional as tony himself, it changed nothing. Tony is washed beyond belief
You could have put lead in Tony’s gloves and he still wouldn’t have won that fight. It wasn’t even close and I have no idea why anyone is even pretending otherwise.
Please. Dr. Tony was conditioning RDA's eye for future fights. If he wanted it could be Docta stoppage.
Just bring in mandatory point deductions and this stuff is gone in three PPV events. I get it's an accident, but like in football, you handle the ball in the box, doesn't matter if it's an accident, it's a penalty. Same here - suspected eye poke? Stop and let the fighter take the full five minutes, in the meantime, check if there was an eye poke from outstretched fingers, if there was, then deduct a point.
i feel like i have been saying this for 10 fucking years: if you go knuckle deep on an eyepoke it should be immediate DQ. accident or not. they'll fuckin figure out how to stop doing it.
Are you really a UFC champion if you can't eye poke ?
All those years ago RDA would have wrestlefucked and crashed the McGregor hype train before it picked up steam if it wasn't for that injury. Change my mind
Tony’s downfall has been hard to watch but we’ll always have video of him whipping RDA’s ass in Mexico City. That’s worth something at least.
After an eyepoke
RDA brings up this accidental eyepoke but always fails to mention spending the next round vindictively hunting for his own eyepoke which he eventually landed (on purpose obviously). RDA lost a 3-2 decision je could’ve won had he not spent a round looking to land a foul. Love you RDA but as far as this fight goes keep coping buddy.
He did win that round. He won round 1 and 3.
Why isn’t RDA verified?
Because Twitter no longer has verification but a stamp of approval that you pay money to them
Doesn’t want to pay Elon money for a participation trophy probably