During promotional appearances for UFC 223, Tony Ferguson suffered a “freak injury” after he slipped over a cable and tore his LCL. This injury forced Ferguson to pull out of the biggest fight of his career against Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Ferguson’s troubles are not yet over.
During an interview on MMA Fighting’s “The MMA Hour”, Ferguson told Ariel Helwani that he had been informed that the UFC was planning on stripping him of his interim lightweight championship, and he believes that he shouldn’t be stripped because the injury happened during a “UFC-obligated media event”
During Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Ferguson told Ariel Helwani how he found out about this potential stripping.
“I haven’t spoken with the UFC yet about what’s next,” Ferguson said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “So when I saw what was in the [ESPN] interview, it shocked me, man, it hurt me even more. It was something I couldn’t control with this injury. This all started snowballing this weekend, man. Of all weekends. The UFC hasn’t said anything to me about my title going away, and I don’t think it will go away.”
After the initial incident, it took Ferguson several days to officially pull out. He attempted to stick to his regular routine, but his injury worsened, with his leg locking and giving out on him on numerous occasions.
“It was just a matter of, I slipped, man,” Ferguson said. “I heard it pop. Once we got back to the car after FOX interviewed us, I turned to wife to tell her what happened, and she was concerned. I had a couple of my team members, and UFC staff with me. Afterwards I went home and did a pool workout and I felt tension and danger in my workout. I woke up on Friday with some pain and I still tried to push through it. You guys know me, I’m tough. I tried to train later that evening after taking a day of rest but my knee locked up.”
He continued, “I woke up Saturday with even more pain, but I tried to push through it and train again,” Ferguson said. “But it locked up on me, my knee was giving out a few times, and slowly it dawned on me, I knew something was f*cked up and more serious.”
After these series of event, Ferguson decided to get an MRI scan to see how badly he had damaged his leg and this was the moment that he realised just how bad this injury was.
“I’m not a doctor,” Ferguson said. “But when I saw my MRI image, dude, I don’t know about you, but I was like it looked like a flag with my ligament, it was hanging on the side of the pole. I wanted them to shoot me with some sort of numbing shot or whatever they put, but they said it was likely it would blew up whole entire knee.”
On Sunday, Tony Ferguson officially pulled out of his bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223. Surgery may be an option, but he hopes to be back to action in under one year.
But the fighter known as ‘El Cucuy’ believes that he shouldn’t be stripped of his interim belt because Robert Whittaker held onto his belt after the Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre bout was made for the full title in November.
“I mean seriously, there is a precedent for having a fight for a “real” title and keeping an “interim” title intact,” Ferguson said. “They just did that with Robert Whittaker last year.”
Ferguson finished by saying “I just hope they do the right thing.”
Should Ferguson be stripped of his interim championship?
