Tony Ferguson‘s career faced another setback as he suffered his seventh straight defeat, this time at the hands of Paddy Pimblett in a one-sided bout at UFC 296.
Previously, he has suffered four knockouts or submissions, and his other losses were decisive defeats.
Notably, he was dominated by Charles Oliveira and later by Beneil Dariush, both resulting in unanimous decision losses.
The fight with Pimblett at UFC 296 highlighted what appears to be Ferguson’s downward trend in skill level.
Pimblett nearly finished the fight in the first round with a powerful combination and continued to dominate throughout. Ferguson, despite his resilience, was unable to mount any effective offense against Pimblett.
Dana White observed a notable difference in Ferguson’s performance in this fight compared to his previous six losses:
When you talk about a skid, you look at the guys he fought, too. That plays a factor into it and how did he look right up until he lost?
Tony tonight looked like he should retire.
While White has yet to discuss Ferguson’s future plans with him directly, he expressed his opinion that retirement might be the best course of action:
Listen, Tony’s been an absolute warrior and a dog in this sport.
I don’t want to disrespect him by publicly talking about him retiring but I would love to see him retire.That’s really where my head’s at.
