Tony Ferguson Praises His Own ‘Genius’ Fighting Style

No. 2-ranked Tony Ferguson has a very unique fighting style inside the Octagon – a style “El Cucuy” labels as ‘genius.”

Tomorrow night (Sat. October 7, 2017) Ferguson will take on No. 7-ranked Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight championship in the main event of UFC 216 on pay-per-view (PPV). Earlier this week Lee spoke to media to discuss Ferguson’s unique fighting style, to which “The Motown Phenom” tried to downplay and name Ferguson’s mindset as to what has been responsible for all his success (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“With him, it’s not even so much of a technical thing. It’s his mindset that drives him through a lot of these fights,” Lee said. “He’s in the fights, he’s getting hurt, but he comes back and he’s hurting other guys, and he’s able to weather them storms. So I’m going to bring a hurricane to his ass, and I don’t think he’ll be able to weather it. I think the first round is going to go terrible for him, the second round is going to go terrible for him, all the way through the fifth.

“I feel like I’m built for five rounds, I’ve always said it. I think all my fights should be five rounds. So from here on out, they will be, because I’m a smarter fighter. I go back to the corner, I reassess. If I have a tough round, I start the next one and it’s going to be smart, so the more time I get in between the corners, the stronger that I’m going to get, the more I’m able to dissect guys, and you see it in all of my fights.”

Ferguson caught wind of these criticisms and laughed them off, calling his style ‘f*cking genius’ and claiming it’s too far ahead of everyone else for them to understand:

“It’s very intellectual. The reason why you guys say it’s weird is because you don’t understand it,” Ferguson said. “It’s f*cking genius. Let me tell you, it’s so far past your guys’ heads it’s not even funny, because this is the next stage in everybody’s evolution. I’ve been working on this since 2008; actually, before that. I said I had a double doctorate in athletics, I’m working on my triple.”

“”El Cucuy” also commented on Lee’s claim that the interim title they’re fighting for is actually the real 155-pound title (which is currently held by Conor McGregor). At the end of the day Ferguson doesn’t even believe Lee has the right to make such claims yet:

“Whatever he’s going to think, if it’s the real lightweight title or whatever it is, this kid hasn’t earned the right to talk,” Ferguson said. “Not one bit.

“You guys deserve a better me, man. I’m primed. I’m the best. But it’s hard when you’ve got a knucklehead like Kevin Lee that wants to just keep pushing that button. So for me, I have to be a captain of the team, and this guy wants my spot on that team. He wants that varsity spot. So I’m going to treat it like it’s a competition, not a fight. I’m going to go in there and give him a T.F. — an old Tony Ferguson technical fall. I’m going to outpoint him then I’m going to pin him.”