Daniel Cormier Calls Tony Ferguson Cutting Weight ‘Boss Move’, Says Khabib Wouldn’t Do That
Daniel Cormier heaped praise on Tony Ferguson’s decision to make championship weight this past Friday.
Ferguson made headlines last week when he claimed he would still go ahead with cutting down to 155 pounds — all that, despite his UFC 249 interim lightweight title fight with Justin Gaethje on Saturday getting postponed. In the end, he followed up on his promise.
Many saw it as an irresponsible and pointless move given that he may have to repeat the process all over again should he meet Gaethje on May 9. But for Cormier, it was nothing other than a “boss move” by the lightweight contender.
“Tony Ferguson, different cat. Tony Ferguson stepping on the scale at 155 — that tells you how disciplined this man is,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani. “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.”
Cormier also believes the move showed just how mentally tough Ferguson was and that many fighters — including the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor — would never follow through and do the same.
“More than anything, it speaks to the mental toughness of Tony Ferguson,” Cormier added. “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 wouldn’t suffer through that for no reason. Conor McGregor, he wouldn’t 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. All your favorite fighters — 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.”
What do you make of Ferguson’s decision to cut weight? Do you agree with Cormier?
