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UFC commentator Michael Bisping has praised Tony Ferguson's strength of schedule after his last three defeats came at the hands of elite-level talent.
It seems like a long time ago that Tony Ferguson was being dubbed the greatest lightweight of his generation and being lined up to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov. He now sits on a three-fight losing skid that many fans and pundits have been caught quite off guard by.
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There are plenty of folks out there who have pointed towards this being a sign of his decline. Others would rather just take a look at the strength of the 155-pound division as a whole.
Michael Bisping falls into the latter of those two categories. In a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, 'The Count' said:
“The three losses have really aged well, when you look back. Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush and Justin Gaethje. There’s no shame in losing to them, but at the time, it was like, ‘Oh, Tony Ferguson is done, he’s over.’ Because he lost to Justin first and it was a tough night at the office. Then he lost to Charles Oliveira and it was like, ‘Charles Oliveira isn’t a champion, he’s not a contender.’ Now Charles Oliveira is the man. There it is.”
Catch Michael Bisping's comments in the video below:
Will Tony Ferguson retire in 2022?
One of the reasons why fans of Tony Ferguson are calling for him to contemplate retirement is due to the nature of his losses.
Justin Gaethje brutalized him throughout their fight before it was eventually waved off. After that, Charles Oliveira almost tore his arm off and Dariush popped his knee out, with Ferguson refusing to tap out or go down on all three occasions.
He's now 37 years old and will turn 38 next month. There's no shame in him walking away after already being crowned the interim UFC lightweight champion once before, with his unbelievable record in mixed martial arts speaking for itself.
We expect to see him return, potentially to fight another contender like Michael Chandler, before the idea of retirement even remotely comes into his head.
