If UFC CEO Dana White decides to release Tony Ferguson from his contract with the promotion following his seventh loss in a row, Jake Paul will be there to scoop him for a fight.
Ferguson — once a top fighter in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions — hasn’t looked the same since a career-altering beatdown at the hands of Justin Gaethje back in 2020. Subsequent losses to Oliveira, Dariush, and Chandler could be overlooked. But in his last fight “El Cucuy” lost to Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett.
We are a far cry from ‘Champ S— Only.’ Now Tony’s warcry involves fighting “til the wheels fall off.”
Ferguson reportedly fought Pimblett with a torn MCL in his right knee, which is not a smart thing to do. Those kinds of knee injuries are hard enough to come back from when you’re a young athlete. Ferguson is 40. And he kept training with the injury and then fought three hard rounds with it. Who knows how badly his knee is now messed up?
Unsurprisingly, YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul can smell the blood in the water. Paul has taken a break from fighting high profile over-the-hill MMA opponents to earn a string of first round KO wins over random boxing cans. On Saturday night in Puerto Rico, he knocked out Ryan Bourland in just under three minutes. But he’d happily face Tony Ferguson if the UFC releases him — perhaps even in mixed martial arts.
“Anyone [from the UFC] who can get out of their contract, I’ll fight,” Paul said at a post-fight press conference in San Juan. “That’s easy work as far as I am concerned. I do want to do a PFL-MMA match, it just has to be the right opponent. But Nate did duck my $15 million offer so we’ll see who else is on the chopping block. Tony Ferguson? He said he wanted to fight.”
Jake Paul is apparently a fan, and doesn’t want to see Ferguson retire on a loss to Paddy Pimblett.
“I don’t want to see him go out like that, that would be sad,” Paul said. “He’s a great guy, we don’t want that for Tony.”
There doesn’t seem to be as much interest in watching Jake Paul beat on old MMA fighters in the boxing ring, but Paul vs. Ferguson in the PFL would be … something. We have our doubts on how entertaining it would be as an actual fight. But at the very least, it’d be a sizable paycheck for Tony to cash as the end of his career approaches quickly.
For now, though, expect Jake Paul to continue cutting through random boxers to pad his resume and highlight reel.
“I am going to stay as active as possible and it’s about finding the right opponent,” he said. “This is my life now and it’s a lifestyle and I’ll be back hopefully two more times before the end of the year.”