Las Vegas, NV – One of the six fighters involved in the card shuffle following official weigh-ins UFC welterweight Tony Ferguson was bumped up to the main event to face headliner Nate Diaz on just hours notice at UFC 279 on Saturday night.
Normally losing fighters don’t get media time, but Ferguson isn’t your normal fighter either.
Ferguson (25-8) went from facing Li Jingliang to taking on Diaz as the face of UFC 279.
“Right handed to south paw? Yeah a little bit (difficult adjustment). We were more than ready for anybody to step up to the plate. Listened to my corner, went for the shot, I should have kept it standing. Little details to expand on and to grow from. Nate’s a game fighter. Can’t say anything else like that. It’s not like he’s old and slow and stuff,” Ferguson told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.
“Hopefully the crowd at UFC 279 that was there and present got some blood splattered on them or something. I had fun in there.”
Almost immediately after the fight began Ferguson landed a kick on Diaz that was checked and blood began to flow out of the shin.
“I didn’t even realize that I had…it was open. I think my right leg was a little bit more hurt,” he said.
Ferguson did attack Diaz’s legs quite a bit in the fight to the point that Diaz had trouble with his lead leg in the later stages of the fight.
Ferguson has had a long career that has included an interim title win, a 12-fight win streak, but recently has fallen into a bit of a down turn. The loss to Diaz puts him on a 5-fight losing streak.
“When it comes down to an L it has to go in what’s been put on the table. Putting sports back on in the world, setting an example for these youngsters to not quit. To go in there, f*cking not give a sh*t, and take the next fight that’s on the lan,” Ferguson said.
“I’m going to be real. I don’t see any Ls. I just see growth. The last four fights that I had before this one, I’m going to be real, I was sand bagging. My wife called me out, I found a good team, I found a good…most f*cking Motley Crue of people that we could have put together. We made f*cking noise. I mean it was fun as sh*t dude.”
Watch the entire media scrum with Tony Ferguson above.
