DC praises Ferguson’s weight cut, says Khabib won’t suffer for ‘no reason’

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Daniel Cormier gives props to Tony Ferguson, who still made championship weight despite UFC 249’s cancellation.

Even after UFC 249 was officially scrapped, Tony Ferguson continued to cut weight. His efforts did pay off as he successfully made the 155-pound championship weight limit on Friday.

As “El Cucuy” explained, it was all about the commitment to himself to follow through and make the weight. It is an attitude that former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier recognizes and respects.

“Tony Ferguson stepping on the scale at 155, that tells you how disciplined this man is,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani on Monday. “How disciplined is Tony Ferguson to get all the way down to the championship weight with nothing to gain?

“That’s a boss move. I know Tony and I don’t have the best relationship, but that is a boss move.

“Tony Ferguson stayed the course,” he added. “And that tells me that come May 9th, that dude is dangerous for anybody, because he’s so disciplined and so in tune with himself right now going into this fight.”

Cormier also believes that other top-level fighters wouldn’t be willing to put themselves through such a grinding process. Not even his own AKA teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“More than anything, it speaks to the mental toughness of Tony Ferguson,” Cormier said. “That’s really what that is. Now, I don’t think anyone should question that, and I believe that if they do, it’s misguided. It’s very misguided, because the dude did something that most fighters won’t do.

“I’m telling you this right now, I love Khabib, but he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t make the weight for nothing. He won’t suffer through that for no reason. Conor McGregor, he would not suffer through that for no reason.

“Conor was willing to say, ‘Hey, great job Tony, put the other guy on the scale.’ But he wouldn’t have done that himself. He wouldn’t have gone down to weight for nothing.

“Israel Adesanya. Even the guy that doesn’t cut that much weight wouldn’t suck himself all the way down to scratch for no reason. Because mentally, it’s so tough to do that, and guys don’t do that.

“Tony Ferguson just did that. That’s a big deal,” he added.

Ferguson is still scheduled to meet Justin Gaethje for the UFC’s new May 9th fight card, which has not been finalized. The event is now down to two title fights from the original three, after Amanda Nunes announced that she won’t be pushing through with her maiden featherweight title defense against Felicia Spencer.