Former UFC interim lightweight champion and fan favorite Tony Ferguson departed the UFC today. Startup promotion the Global Fight League announced his signing in a social media post Friday morning.
They listed his record at 23-7, when he is in fact 25-11 according to Tapology. Ferguson ended his UFC career on an eight-fight losing streak which is now the promotional record for most losses in a row, passing Sam Alvey and BJ Penn at seven. His historic slide began after a beatdown against Justin Gaethje and finished in the UFC with a decision loss to Paddy Pimblett and a submission loss to Michael Chiesa.
Neither Tony Ferguson nor the UFC have confirmed his departure, but it seems all but certain. Ferguson refused to retire after his loss to Chiesa. “It ain’t time,” he said. “I got sh*t to work on.”
Dana White, however, had other plans. He announced to the public via a press conference that he had no desire for Ferguson to return, and most fans of the sport feel the same way. Unfortunately for Ferguson, his freak ACL injury in the leadup to the Khabib Nurmagomedov fight took a toll on him. ACL recovery remains a problem for most athletes, and doubly so for those in the physical sport of MMA.
The GFL announced itself a few years ago, but few details emerged until the past few months. One of their first signings was Fabricio Werdum, a 47-year-old former UFC champion. His last fight came against GFL signing Junior dos Santos in Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA.
Another confusing signing came in the form of 48-year-old Wanderlei Silva, a UFC Hall of Famer and PRIDE veteran.
Other Than Tony Ferguson, New Fighters Roll In
Tony Ferguson marks one of the GFL’s newest signings, but the promotion seems to sign many legends in the twilight of their careers. Notable signings include former UFC light heavyweight title challengers Alexander Gustaffson and Ovince Saint Preux, Patricky Fereire, Kevin Lee, and Paige van Zant. Yoel Romero also joined the roster, along with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Chad Mendes, Sage Northcutt and others.
The fighters split into six teams in cities around the world: New York, Miami, LA, Dubai, Sao Paolo and London. Each city has a manager and a coach. The manager is often a professional fighter with heavy ties to the sport. Sao Paolo’s manager is UFC and Bellator legend Lyoto Machida, while New York’s coach is Ray Longo, longtime coach of champions Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili.
Tony Ferguson likely heads to one of the America-based teams like LA, which he is based out of. First, he has to be drafted from a 420-strong pool of fighters. Each team has two fighters in one of the 10 weight classes ranging from women’s strawweight to bantamweight, and men’s bantamweight to heavyweight.
From press releases, the league seems geared to fighters, as they have access to a comprehensive retirement plan. They also get health and injury insurance, as well as a 50% event-specific revenue-sharing format, similar to the cut players make in other major sports leagues.
Tonight’s draft marks the start of a new player in mixed martial arts, and come April it will be interesting to see where the GFL finds itself on the world stage of fighting. Whether or not Tony Ferguson remains a major player in this is to be seen. MMA, after all, is one of the most unpredictable sports.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
