UFC 249: Dana White thinks Tony Ferguson paid the price for two weight cuts – ‘he looked off, slow’
- ‘I have to imagine cutting weight twice in a month will affect you,’ says UFC president White
- New interim champ Justin Gaethje admits ‘I believe it would affect my performance if I did that’
As good as Justin Gaethje was at UFC 249, there was something undeniably off about Tony Ferguson’s performance. And Dana White thinks it has something to do with him cutting weight twice in a month.
New interim lightweight champion Gaethje upset Ferguson via TKO after pummelling him for almost five rounds, with “El Cucuy” seeming to have none of his usual destructively creative vim and vigour in Jacksonville, Florida.
Ferguson had been training to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov on April 18 before the coronavirus outbreak struck, and the event was eventually rescheduled for May 9 with Gaethje standing in for the stranded Russian champion. But Ferguson still decided to cut to 155 pounds the day before the original fight date – a move which may have backfired.
“The fight was really good,” White said at the post-event press conference. “I don't want to take anything away from Gaethje because he fought an incredible fight, but I felt Tony looked off tonight.
“He looked slow and I would have to imagine that cutting weight twice in a month will affect you. I don't know if that was it or what, but the guy isn't human – nobody takes Gaethje’s punches like that. But this kid, Tony Ferguson, is a special human.”