The result of the main fight of the UFC 279 tournament, held in Las Vegas, was not a big surprise for most martial arts fans. Nate Diaz defeated Tony Ferguson by guillotine in the 4th round. The confrontation between the two legends of martial arts caused only depressing emotions, but the inglorious decline of the career of the famous El Cucuy brings even more sadness.

Ferguson suffered the fifth defeat in a row, but after him he said that he was not going to stop …

El Cucuy defeated again

Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson found out that they would meet in a head-to-head fight just a day before the start of the tournament. The UFC decided to change pairs due to the failed weighing of Khamzat Chimaev, with whom Diaz was supposed to fight. Ferguson’s rivals included Chinese fighter Li Jingliang. After the news of the change of opponent, Nate said that he did not understand at all how to fight El Kukuy, as he was preparing to meet with a Chechen fighter.

Nevertheless, Diaz chose the tactics for the fight with Ferguson that were absolutely familiar to him – boxing work at the lowest possible pace with constant mockery of the opponent. By and large, they didn’t expect anything else from Nate, which can’t be said about El Cucuy, famous for his diverse arsenal and brilliant combat. In his last fight with Michael Chandler, Tony lost by a terrible knockout, but before the fatal blow he fought and looked amazing for a veteran.

A repetition of the performance from Ferguson was also expected in the fight with Diaz, but the fans from Tony saw nothing but good low kicks and rare hits from the hands. In his past four fights, El Cucuy lost to the monsters of the lightweight division, so the fans were indulgent about the depressing streak of a fighter who once went on a streak of 12 wins in a row. A duel with a 37-year-old fighter, and even a welterweight, on paper looked like a real chance for Ferguson to finish his career beautifully, or at least return to the winning track.

Photo: © Jeff Bottari / Contributor / UFC / Gettyimages.com

As a result, Tony lost to Diaz in three rounds, and in the fourth he fell into a crookedly executed guillotine. It is terrible to imagine what a younger and more motivated Jingliang could do with Ferguson.

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Impressions from the sad outcome of the fight for the 38-year-old Ferguson, in fact, would have quickly subsided if Tony had told the fans after the fight that he would finally hang up his gloves on a nail. However, El Cucuy decided not to change his image of a crazy fighter and said that he was going to correct his mistakes and return to the octagon.

The athlete’s desire to finally win the long-awaited victory can be understood, even after a terrible knockout in the fight with Chandler, many came to the conclusion that it’s too early to bury Ferguson’s career, and he should get age fighters not from the top 10 lightweight or welterweight. It was such a fight that El Kukuyu was given in the end, but the fight shown by him suggests that if the head of the UFC, Dana White, decides to give Tony another opponent, the maximum age and far from good condition, the sad series of defeats can still continue …