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Tony Ferguson remembers his UFC 256 fight with Charles Oliveira differently than the majority of the MMA community does. Oliveira won the contest via unanimous decision. The judges and most of the fans unanimously agreed that Oliveira put up an excellent performance, dominating Tony Ferguson for most of the contest.
But, according to 'El Cucuy' himself, that is not how it went down.
Breaking down the fight in a review on his Instagram Live on Wednesday, Tony Ferguson said that he had proceedings under control throughout the fight.
Tony Ferguson: Charles Oliveira was mentally broken in the first round
Charles Oliveira picked up a unanimous decision at UFC 256 with 30-26 scorecards across the board, and showed great promise right from the beginning, with back-to-back takedowns and submission attempts. The win has gained him three spots in the UFC lightweight rankings. 'Do Bronx' is now at No. 3, ahead of Conor McGregor and Ferguson himself.
However, Tony Ferguson claims that he was fighting a 'mentally broken' opponent in the first round.
"We’re not gonna waste any energy here, and you guys shouldn’t either in jiu-jitsu matches. Just be patient and wait for the opportunity for him to advance and get so lazy that in the third round he doesn’t even advance to mount anymore. What he does is he stays controlled into side position looking for something completely different, a different move because he was mentally broken in the first round."
The most notable talking point from the first round was that Charles Oliveira nearly broke Tony Ferguson's arm with a super hyperextension with an armbar submission attempt. Ferguson did not tap to it, and was soon saved by the bell.
When Oliveira held Ferguson down with the armbar, commentators were having a discussion at the table questioning whether the arm is broken or not. But according to 'El Cucuy' himself, it was an exaggeration of the situation.
"I went back and kind of watched film, and without the commentary and how all like, ‘Oh, you got dominated, this and that.’ Okay, to the untrained people in jiu-jitsu. Advancing positions in traditional styles of martial arts, you will get points, advantages, and different types of points. But the judging and the contesting as far as the commission, I don’t even know if it’s there. I’m gonna be real, I don’t."
Tony Ferguson's hand is, in fact, quite alright. In an attempt to show that Charles Oliveira did not quite get a scratch on him, he uploaded videos of him working out with the said arm, one of them captioned as "F**k Your Armbar..."
See that tweet here.
Ferguson also addressed John McCarthy and Josh Thompson in the Live feed. McCarthy has suggested on the Weighing In podcast he shares with Thompson that Tony Ferguson might be among the 60 fighters to be cut from UFC by the end of 2021 after suffering back-to-back losses to Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira.
"So a question for John McCarthy and The Punk, no I’m not getting f***ing cut. Josh, come on dog, you got your ass kicked. Don’t start that sh*t. The fans love me. They want to see me fight again. And I love you guys too."
