Former UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson isn’t done in the MMA world apparently as he revealed that he passed on a boxing match with influencer KSI for a shot at the Global Fight League.
“I was offered a boxing match against KSI. We were in heavy negotiations, which was awesome. I’m ready to take the f*cking fight because in MMA, we don’t get to wear shoes,” Ferguson told Ariel Helwani.
“I’m completely different boxing than in any other sport.”
Ferguson (25-11) finished his UFC run on an 8-fight losing streak. Last time he out he lost via submission to Michael Chiesa last August. He took his gloves off, but only laid one down leaving the door open for a return to fighting.
“When I left the UFC… I hate to say it, I wanted to fight another time, but even me, it’s kinda like, ‘I have to excuse myself, guys.’ But I didn’t want to leave on bad terms,” he said.
“So talking to Dana (White), talking to Hunter (Campbell), and then coming to terms with it, we all agreed that it was in our best interest for me to move on.”
According to Ferguson the offer to box against KSI was very real and very serious. So why change course to the GFL instead?
“I started thinking, okay, let me talk to my team. Talk to my dad in my corner now, and I got a couple other people that are good advisers for me. And we’re like you know what? Let’s finish up mixed martial arts. Let’s get this going, and then we can worry about boxing later,” he said.
“So it wasn’t like we said no or we haven’t said yes, but we started focusing more towards MMA.”
As of now Ferguson is scheduled to face Dillon Danis.
