Tony Ferguson Didn’t Let His Disability Slow Down His UFC Career
Tony Ferguson will eventually fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, and it may be one of the biggest fights in UFC history. Every UFC fan wants to see this fight, it’s just been a case of bad luck that it hasn’t happened yet. But Tony Ferguson had to overcome more than just bad luck to get to where he is today.
Tony Ferguson’s personal problems
As Ferguson shared on his social media, he has a learning disability that he’s had to overcome to get to where he is today. While he didn’t share too many details about it, learning disabilities can be tough on anyone and they can be very hurtful. But that isn’t the only personal issue that he had to beat.
As Yahoo News reported, Ferguson’s wife had filed a restraining order against him previously. The reason she filed that order was that Ferguson’s reputation for being an unpredictable person happened to be true for his home life, too.
Ferguson, as Yahoo News said, believed in some crazy conspiracy-related stuff. Among other things, he thought that there was a computer chip in his leg and that someone was hiding in his walls. His wife tried to calm him down and get him to seek some professional help, but he refused. So, she filed a restraining order against him.
Overcoming tough fights
This restraining order was a wake-up call for him, and he almost immediately went to get the help that he needed. Tony Ferguson didn’t want to lose his wife and kid, and so, after getting the help he needed, she dropped the restraining order against him, according to MMA Fighting. This wasn’t the only hard battle that Ferguson has had to fight.
Along with overcoming his learning disability to become a great fighter, Ferguson, like many athletes, had to deal with a lot of injuries. For example, Ferguson has been scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov four times in the past before the most recent scheduling. However, in two of these scheduled fights, Ferguson had to pull out due to sudden and unexpected injuries or medical issues.
Most recently, in UFC 223 in 2018, Ferguson tripped on a wire and injured his knee. In 2016, when he was scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov for a second time, MMA Fighting described a freak lung issue that caused him to pull out of that fight.
Furthermore, Ferguson has faced problems in the octagon as well. When Ferguson fought Kevin Lee for the interim title, Lee was dominating Ferguson for most of the fight. Eventually though, Ferguson found a hole in Lee’s defenses and managed to choke him out. This was a hard-fought win, but it shows just how hard-working and tough Ferguson is.
Beating everyone except Khabib Nurmagomedov
Since that win, the only person that fans wanted to Tony Ferguson fight was Khabib Nurmagomedov. But unfortunately, due to accidents and other issues, that fight hasn’t materialized yet. So, in the meanwhile, Ferguson has had to fight other people.
In 2018, Ferguson fought and defeated the former champion, Anthony Pettis. This was another hard-fought win, as Pettis was doing a lot of damage to Ferguson. After this win, Ferguson took a break to deal with the personal problems that he had. But, in 2019, he returned to fight Donald Cerrone.
While this fight wasn’t as back and forth as his other fights were, it was still a good fight. Ferguson dominated Cerrone in the second round, injuring Cerrone so badly that the doctors had to call off the fight. With this win, Ferguson made it clear to the world that he absolutely needs to fight Nurmagomedov. And right now, that’s exactly what he’s going to get.
