Short Notice: El Cucuy Vs The Leech
Tony Ferguson used to be the lightweight nightmare of every single fighter in the division. His uphill record of a 12 fight win streak rightfully earned him the title of El Cucuy or the Boogeyman. And although he’s no longer on that win streak his last four matches have been against the freshest of MMA stars. From Justin “Highlight” Gaethje to The Champion Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira and from Beneil Dariush to “Iron” Michael Chandler. Tony has laid his life on the line and in the octagon a few too many times.
Tony’s Previous Fight Versus Michael Chandler
His last fight against Michael Chandler ended in a dangerous and awfully frightening KO loss from an early second round leg kick to the face. Round 1 had the fans’ hearts. Tony looked like he was back in business. We got to see a younger, more athletic and versatile fighter.
But Round 2 ended with many heartbroken as Tony dropped to the ground while Michael celebrated. Many are using that bout as a comparison to why Li vs Tony got made on too short notice and was far too early for Tony. That’s why most fans and fight analysts aren’t at all happy about this match. They aren’t ready for Tony to take a short notice match against a knockout artist like Jingliang.
Jingliang Versus Salikhov
Li Jingliang on the other hand just came off of one win and one loss. The loss against Khamzat Chimaev was quite literally a demolition show. Team RDXs very own, Borz carried Li to the cage of the octagon and “smeshed” him while demanding attention from Dana White.
It was a dominating win but that doesn’t make Li a bad or weaker fighter. His comeback fight against Muslim Salikhov was a dominating 2nd round TKO. Muslim was on a five fight win streak that Li stopped in its tracks. Jingliang truly has a lot of knockout power and fans aren’t ready for that happening to Tony again.
Tony has some of the best injury recovery the sport has ever seen. The first time we got to witness this firsthand was back in 2018. UFC 223 with Interim Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson was to face off against a rising star in Khabib Nurmagomedov.
#UFC223 #TonyFergusonMMA SnapJitsu™️ #SnapDownCity 🙏😎 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/Rf4PWg4QXT
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) April 2, 2018
Tony’s Injury Recovery
However his ACL tore during some backstage news and press work. ACL injuries are extremely serious. Often a fighter’s career can end with this type of knee injury, that tears the inner ligament in the center of the knee joint. Tony’s doctors gave him a minimum 1 year serious physical therapy and rest. Despite this Tony restructured his training, diets and further changed his conditioning. Tony was on his feet, dancing and motivating fight fans within six months.
UFC 262 -CSO- 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 # 👣 I Won’t Tap # One. Day Of Reflection ✝️💨🍃 pic.twitter.com/c2v5Sq8fmP
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) May 17, 2021
In light of Tony being so uniquely remarkable at making recoveries and comebacks. There’s a certain amount of expectation for El Cucuy to be capable of making these shocker short notice fights. Even if it’s right after his first ever knockout loss and in a different weight class. At UFC 279 on September the 10th in Las Vegas, the Welterweight Boogeyman will return to prove he’s very much Champ material.
RDX Sports stands behind El Cucuy and expects true grit from the New Mexican legend. He’s one of the most experienced and acclaimed fighters in the UFC roster and deserves to be respected and treated as such. RDX will be eagerly awaiting the bout between The Boogeyman and The Leech. And naturally with anything Tony, we expect Champ Sh*t Only.
