Daniel Cormier thinks Tony Ferguson could show flashes of his prime form vs. Paddy Pimblett.
Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) will look to snap a six-fight losing skid when he takes on Pimblett (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
During his six-fight losing streak, Ferguson has been finished in his past three by Bobby Green, Nate Diaz, and Michael Chandler, with the remaining losses coming to Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje. Ferguson was able to stun Gaethje with an uppercut and drop Chandler, so Cormier wonders if he’ll be able to pull off a big moment against Pimblett and get his hand raised.
“Is it as simple as he just needs one?” Cormier asked on his YouTube channel. “Because imagine what happens for Tony Ferguson if he beats Paddy Pimblett. He said before the last fight – I sat in the fighter meeting with him and Tony Ferguson said, ‘It’s going to be a fight right now. Five more fights, I’m on the title.’ So, it’s not like he has lost that desire to fight. He has not lost the thought that he can be a world champion.
“I’m going to tell you this right now, and this is the saying as old as time, fellas: Every great champion has one more night in him. We saw it with George Foreman w en he beat Michael Moorer. He did not belong in the ring with Michael Moorer. We have seen so many great fighters have one great night, where if you close your eyes and you squint enough, they remind you of that person that was on that run.”
Cormier has urged Ferguson to retire a couple of times during his skid, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t sold on him during his 12-fight unbeaten run.
“I think Tony Ferguson was so good,” Cormier said. “The way he would hit these guys, they would look like they were bludgeoned. … I think he lost something in the Justin Gaethje fight – middle of a pandemic, no people in the arena, fighting Justin Gaethje for five rounds, getting beat up for as long as that took.
“I thought he lost something in that fight and he just never looked the same afterwards. But not many people don’t lose something when they fight Justin Gaethje. That’s what happens. Justin Gaethje takes a little part of you that you don’t get back. So I don’t think you can blame Tony Ferguson for that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.
