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#4. A fight between Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson would pique the interest of the fans
Conor McGregor is still the UFC’s biggest star and most powerful drawing card, and so it stands to reason that fans of the promotion would probably be willing to part with their money to see ‘The Notorious’ fight anyone.
However, if the UFC want to book a Conor McGregor fight that’s really going to move the needle, they could do much worse than matching him up with Tony Ferguson.
It’s true that ‘El Cucuy’ isn’t a mainstream draw in the way that McGregor is, and in fact, he doesn’t hold the same profile as Nate Diaz or Khabib Nurmagomedov did before their fights with ‘The Notorious’.
To say that Ferguson is an unknown, though, would be very unfair. ‘El Cucuy’ has headlined numerous UFC events since his debut with the promotion in 2011, and his wild and exciting fighting style makes him one of the most recognizable lightweights on the roster.
If anything, it’s arguable that Ferguson is on the same level of stardom – probably what you’d consider the “second tier” – that Dustin Poirier and Donald Cerrone both possessed prior to their recent fights with McGregor.
Would a McGregor vs. Ferguson fight break the UFC’s buyrate record? Probably not, but it’d certainly pique the interest of fans, particularly those who wanted to see the two face off back in 2017.
That alone makes it a fight worth booking.
#3. A win over Tony Ferguson would move Conor McGregor back into UFC title contention
It’s no secret that Conor McGregor’s ultimate goal is to regain the UFC lightweight title that he never lost inside the octagon.
Right now, though, after his two losses to Dustin Poirier, that idea feels like a pipe dream. Incredibly though, for a fighter of McGregor’s stature, one big win might be all it takes to move him back into contention.
Could that one big win come against Tony Ferguson? It’s definitely possible.
Admittedly, ‘El Cucuy’ isn’t quite the same fighter that he once was, and his slide down the rankings demonstrates that. Following his losses to Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush, Ferguson is ranked as the #7 lightweight in the UFC.
However, that still puts him two spots above the #9 ranked Conor McGregor, meaning that a win over him would propel ‘The Notorious’ at least a couple of spots up the ladder.
And while it wouldn’t propel him all the way up to the top of the rankings, a win over a top ten opponent alone would almost definitely put him in line for a title eliminator bout thanks to his star power alone.
Essentially, any run for Conor McGregor back into title contention would have to start somewhere, and Tony Ferguson could be the perfect starting point for him.
