Tony Ferguson met the end of his 12-fight win streak when he clashed with Justin Gaethje back in May. Even though he put up an amazing performance and showed that both his heart and his chin turn to stone inside the Octagon, he just did not seem at his best.

Many believe that in the process of cutting weight twice, ‘El Cucuy‘ compromised on his readiness for the bout.

The head coach at American Kickboxing Academy, Javier Mendez, touched upon the same nerve in a recent interview with ESPN MMA journalist Brett Okamoto. He said,

“I think, personally, that Tony s****ed up on his last fight by overtraining. By cutting the weight. He shouldn’t have done that because, in this game, it is a matter of inches, man. You cannot go out there and do that to prove a point. Like, what he (Tony) did, to make the weight, which is a true warrior. True warrior, no doubt. But, from the winning and losing perspective, that might not have been the wisest move, in my opinion.”

Why did Tony Ferguson cut weight twice before fighting Justin Gaethje?

‘The Highlight‘ Gaethje only stepped in to fight Ferguson when undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov announced that he would not make it for the fight. Of course, conditions during that stage were bad enough, with the coronavirus having already set in throughout the world.

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Thus, it was not possible for ‘The Eagle‘ to fly out for a fight all the way from Dagestan. Moreover, the original date for UFC 249 was April 21. However, in order to adjust to the rapidly changing guidelines, the UFC pushed the date to May 9.

And although he knew he was not fighting on April 21, Ferguson decided to make weight. He did so to prove that he was ready to get his hands on Lightweight gold.

This move met a lot of concern from fight fans and pundits from across the globe, including UFC President Dana White. Making weight is an extremely strenuous task. And doing it twice within two weeks, along with preparing for a whole new stylistically diverse opponent, is something that no fighter would ever step up to do.

While Tony himself does not believe that making weight was the reason he lost, almost everyone else, including Javier Mendez, believes so. Nevertheless, Mendez also said that if the UFC finds one last way to finally bring the ‘Tony vs Khabib’ dream to life, then they won’t think twice before saying yes.

What do you think was the ultimate reason behind Tony’s loss in May? Let us know in the comments section!

Source: ESPN MMA on YouTube