- Tony Ferguson has turned down Charles Oliveira’s offer to help him in training
- “El Cucuy” feels he can still get back to his winning ways
Following his humiliating UFC 274 KO loss to fellow veteran Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson received a special offer from Charles Oliveira. The Brazilian reached out to Ferguson on social media and courteously asked his “big dog” to “train together.”
While he truly appreciates his friend’s offer, “El Cucuy” chose to turn it down because he has other things in mind.
We're among big dogs, up&downs are part of our jorneys. I admire you a lot @tonyfergusonxt. You've the history inside the Octagon. Head up "El Cucuy"!
If you wish, let's train together in ChuteBoxe's hedquarter in São Paulo for your nxt fight. You're a brother!#UFC pic.twitter.com/hNyd4wbLZd
— Charles 'DoBronxs' Oliveira (@CharlesDoBronxs) May 9, 2022
Train, NO, Rematch, YES
Ferguson lost to Oliveira via a unanimous decision back in 2020. Unsurprisingly, “El Cucuy” is not convinced with the idea of training with “Do Bronx” because he thinks it doesn’t make sense training with someone he would like to fight soon.
“I have to really reflect on what he [Oliveira] said, because Chute Boxe is a very good school,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie. “But he is in my weight class. I’m one of the only fighters that he hasn’t finished, and I went into that fight practicing zero jiu-jitsu. I didn’t do too bad. I didn’t do as bad as Dustin Poirier just sitting there laying there. I stayed active and I went for submissions everywhere. It’s not like I practiced really hard.”
“I’ve got to really think about that one, because I see myself competing against him again,” he continued. “No animosity, but I went back there and talked to him before the weigh-in faceoffs. I told him, he was signing posting, and I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and I said, ‘Hey, kid. You stay focused, all right?’ He turned around and he looked at me and he knows already. Like I told him inside that octagon (when we fought). I put my arm around his shoulder and said, ‘Walk with me.’ I’m a good scout when it comes to certain things. … I know exactly what I have to do and I can’t really say no to it or yes to it. But I know right now that it’s not the time for me to go to Chute Boxe and to train with them. There’s some local gyms out that I’m going to be part of a team and help that team grow as well as myself.”
Not written off yet
Ahead of the Chandler fight, many have already written off Ferguson due to the ugly skid he has been lately. He came into the fight off of a three-fight lose streak and the KO loss to “Iron” saw him winless since 2019.
Nevertheless, the 38-year-old remains confident that he still has “all the tools to win” and even become a champion.
“When I take a loss that I know I lose – I don’t argue with it,” Ferguson explained. “I really don’t argue with it. But what I do is take the good things that I’ve taken with it and the good parts that I have learned. One, I’m more flexible than I think. Two, my mentality is strong and my will to win is f*cking there. I just have to put the structure behind it and I have to put the coaching and the technique. I have all the tools to win and to be able to get that belt.”
Aside from Oliveira, Ferguson revealed that a number of gyms have already reached out to him. As per the UFC veteran, among them were Jackson-Wink, Syndicate, Pit Master and UFC P.I.
