Welcome back to the latest edition in our 'Undisputed Legends' series, where we take a look at of the greatest fighters to ever set foot inside the Octagon, who never won a UFC world title.
Tony Ferguson
MMA fans who only discovered the sport during the pandemic will know Tony Ferguson (25-11 MMA, 15-9 UFC) as the fighter who set a new record for consecutive losses inside the Octagon between 2020 and 2024. After losing for the first time in eight years to Justin Gaethje in 2020, “El Cucuy” would go on to lose seven more times before the UFC eventually released him in January of 2025.
For seasoned UFC followers however, Ferguson will be remembered as “the Boogeyman” of the lightweight division who put together one of the most visceral and violent winning streaks the Octagon has ever witnessed.
Following a loss to Michael Johnson in May of 2012, Ferguson embarked on a 12-fight unbeaten stretch that saw him leave a succession of high-level opponents bruised, battered and drenched in their own blood. A litany of established names such as Gleison Tibau, Edson Barbosa, Anthony Pettis, Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone suffered at the hands of Ferguson, and his dominant streak brought him an interim title when he submitted Kevin Lee at UFC 216.
A unification bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov failed to come to fruition, however. Unbelievably, the pair were booked to fight each other on five separate occasions and the fight fell through each time. The fourth of those cancellations happened in the build up to UFC 223 and has gone down as one of the biggest “sliding doors” moments in UFC history.
Ferguson tripped over some wires backstage at a UFC media day and severely damaged his knee, which resulted in him requiring surgery and being stripped of his interim title. Nurmagomedov went on to defeat late-replacement opponent Al Iaquinta and Ferguson was left to wonder what might have been.
After bouncing back with a pair of stoppage wins over Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, Ferguson was awarded with another shot Nurmagomedov’s belt in April of 2020. Alas, the coronavirus pandemic intervened and the event was cancelled. With Nurmagomedov unable to enter the United States, Ferguson was booked to face Justin Gaethje the following month in another interim title contest.
The beatdown he suffered at the hands of “The Highlight” kickstarted the longest losing streak in UFC history and Ferguson and his fans were left to ponder what might have been.
