Tony Ferguson’s anticipated clash against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 sparks concerns over his career’s downturn. The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be the year’s last pay-per-view event.
Ferguson’s recent journey has not been quite well, even though he previously had a 12-bout winning run and had won the interim lightweight championship in 2016. The most recent setback arrived at UFC 291 in July, as he was defeated via submission by Bobby Green.
In a recent segment on The Joe Rogan Experience, the seasoned UFC commentator dissected Ferguson’s career spiral.
He said: “Fitness is important, but sparring is very important too. And timing is important, as are training and technique, drilling, and being prepared for specific things. When fighters get older, they can’t move this well… There’s a bunch of sh*t that you don’t see.”
Rogan also made reference to a widely shared video that showed Ferguson clearly having difficulties recently with his octagon rituals before the match.
He stated: “There’s an old video of Tony Ferguson when he used to enter the octagon, how he used to move versus now. In his old days when Tony Ferguson was on his undefeated run, he was on the baddest f**king mountain. An elite fighter can only operate at their highest level for so many years, there’s a window of time when you operate at the highest RPMs.”
Tom Aspinall is supporting Paddy Pimblett, a fellow countryman. Pimblett will be competing in his next bout against Tony Ferguson. The interim UFC heavyweight champion highlighted Pimblett’s youth as a pivotal advantage over Ferguson.
During a discussion with TNT Sports, Aspinall conveyed his confidence in Pimblett’s potential triumph.
He said: “I think Paddy should win this fight. I think Paddy is younger, he is fresher! Tony Ferguson’s got a lot of miles on the clock and I think that that’s going to show in this fight. I think Paddy’s younger and fresher.”
“Paddy’s got a strange style to cope with and as does Tony, to be fair! It’s hard to prepare for both guys but I think just Paddy being younger and fresher and I believe Tony’s on like a six-fight losing streak, is it? Yeah, I’ll definitely back Paddy on this one.”