Tony FergusonAnthony Armand Ferguson

American mixed martial artist and boxer Tony Ferguson became famous thanks to a series of successful fights in the lightweight category in the UFC. Tony Ferguson has 25 victories in 2021. He has also held the UFC interim lightweight title since 2017. The athlete became famous for his unique technical techniques, as well as artistry, which makes fights with him especially spectacular.

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Childhood and youth

The mother of the future celebrity Mary was of Mexican descent. She lived with her father Tony in the town of Oxnard. When the baby was born, the young parents separated. Soon a new man appeared in life - an American of Scottish origin named Armand Ferguson. He accepted the boy as his son and gave him a surname. Then the course of the biography of the future athlete changed.

When Tony was ready to go to school, the family left Oxnard and settled in McSegon County, Michigan. There, the athlete's stepfather bought a small bar and started running his own business. He was also concerned about the future of his adopted son. In order for the boy to overcome his natural shyness and stiffness, Armand sent him to the boxing section. Later, Tony himself became interested in rugby and basketball.

The path to popularity

While still in high school, Tony Ferguson began to show good results in sports. His success was imbued with Central Michigan University. The most prestigious university in the state provided a grant for the athlete to choose to study at this institution.

The fighter decided to try himself in a new field and chose a faculty where specialists in the oil and gas industry were educated. A little later he transferred to Grand Valley State University. After 3.5 years of student life, Tony received a severe psychological blow - his mother died. To drown out the pain, the guy devoted himself entirely to training and abandoned his textbooks.

At one point, the athlete decided to return home to be closer to his family. For some time Tony tried to study at Macsegon College. But the young man spent most of his life at work. He worked in sales and marketing during the day and worked shifts at night as a bartender at his stepfather's bar. There, a meeting took place with clients who invited the young wrestler to become an MMA coach.

Personal life

Anthony Armand is happily married. His wife was a girl she knew from her time at university, named Christina Servin . She is 7 years younger than her husband. The wedding took place in 2012, and in 2021 Ferguson became a father. His wife bore him a son, Arman . Tony chose the name. It was not a surprise that the athlete’s son received it in honor of his grandfather.

With wife and son

Some time ago, something strange began to happen in the family. Christina called emergency services and complained about Tony. Moreover, there was no violence, it just seemed to the woman that her husband had mental problems. The case even went to court. But it all ended with the athlete’s promise to turn to specialists and Christina’s public admission that her partner was a good husband and father. Since 2019, nothing has been known about such incidents.

Now the Ferguson couple lives in Los Santos , California. Despite the intense training and competition schedule, the man tries to spend as much time as possible with his family.

The couple's favorite hobby was traveling by car. They enjoy taking long trips around the country. Another hobby of the athlete is collecting edged weapons . Fans, knowing this, often give him exhibits.

You can learn about the life of an MMA fighter from his pages on social networks. Tony is an active user of Instagram and Twitter. He often posts photos of his training and fights.

First success

While studying at universities and college, Tony Ferguson did not leave the sport. He became interested in freestyle wrestling and tried to succeed in it. The guy managed to become the NCAA champion in freestyle wrestling in 2002 (weight up to 68.4 kg) and in 2006 (weight up to 74.3 kg). Victories and defeats only strengthened his character, made the guy more restrained internally and merciless in battle.

When an acquaintance suggested that Tony work in MMA, the athlete began training again. After the first serious workout, he vomited right in the locker room. But later the fighter came to his senses. In 2008, he received his fighter's license and was able to fight opponents in the welterweight division.

Much later, in 2011, Tony Ferguson signed a contract agreement with the UFC. He became Team Brock Lesnar's 3rd welterweight pick and 5th in the final standings. Then he had his first fight with Justin Edwards, and then with Ryan McGillivray. His career began in the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, of which the athlete became champion in 2011.

Fateful meeting

During one of his night shifts, Tony got into a conversation with a stranger who noticed his broken wrestling ears. After listening to the young man’s story, the man invited him to the MMA training center to become a coach of young fighters.

Tony Ferguson

Tony's physical condition left much to be desired. He weighed about 100 kg and the loads were extremely difficult for him. After his first serious training session, he vomited right in the locker room. But Ferguson caught fire with the idea, and there was no stopping him. He not only taught classes, but also became interested in mixed martial arts. The fighter was noticed by the famous boxing trainer Robert Garcia, who brought Tony's striking technique to a radically new level. Ferguson devoted himself entirely to his studies and after two months he brought his body into complete order. In 2008, Tony received his professional fighter's license and left his job at the bar.

History of the nickname

As a fighter, Tony Ferguson entered the ring under the pseudonym "El Cucuy". This is the Mexican name for an invisible spirit that scares children at night. The analogue of this mythical creature is the Slavic Babai. Tony chose such a nickname for himself so that his rivals would fear him like children and give victory without violent resistance. Fight statistics claim that this tactic is justified: Ferguson had only 3 defeats throughout his entire career, and then at a young and inexperienced age.

Video about 5 early victories of El Cucuy:

List of fights

TOP 10 fights

Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje: Full Fight May 9, 2021

The long-awaited fight between famous wrestlers Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson was supposed to take place on April 18, 2021. But the event was later canceled due to the global coronavirus epidemic. And the fight itself fell through due to the fact that Khabib cannot attend the tournament until the quarantine is lifted.

There was even a proposal to move the fight to Russia. But the Russian Ministry of Sports banned international competitions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Surprisingly, they have been trying to hold a fight between an American and a Russian since 2015. So far without success, since it failed 4 times for various reasons. Coronavirus has become the fifth in a row.

One of the best fighters, American Justin Gaethje, has been appointed as a new opponent. But it didn’t work out - the mixed martial arts event had already been postponed and even cancelled.

However, the UFC was determined. Was held as part of UFC 249 - May 9, 2021. The fight ended with Ferguson losing. Watch video of the full 2020 UFC title fight.

Gaethje received the interim lightweight title and will meet Nurmagomedov in September.

Khabib wrote that he was ready for a fight, and also supported Tony after a difficult defeat for his health.

Video

Islam Makhachev after winning the UFC / Comparisons with Khabib and challenge to Ferguson / PRESS CONFERENCE

UFC18 July
All news

Top

Makhachev: “I’m willing to bet that dos Anjos, Ferguson and Chandler are waiting for the beaten Conor to return”

MMA / Boxing19 July

Makhachev volunteered to fight with Ferguson: “I will knock out Tony and prove that he is not on the same level as Khabib”

MMA / Boxing18 July

Diana Avsaragova: “Tony Ferguson needs to end his career as soon as possible. He frankly gave up"

MMA / Boxing May 16

Dariush: “Ferguson screamed and then looked at me as if nothing had happened. He's a real zombie"

MMA / Boxing May 16

Oliveira knocked out Chandler and won the UFC belt that Khabib previously held

MMA / Boxing May 16

Tony Ferguson lost to Dariush via unanimous decision in the co-main event of UFC 262

MMA / Boxing May 16

Tony Ferguson - Beneil Dariush: forecast with odds of 13.00 from Diana Avsaragova

MMA / Boxing May 15

Oliveira and Chandler made weight ahead of their UFC 262 fight

MMA / Boxing May 14

Ferguson: “I’m thinking about switching to boxing. What I earn in MMA is barely enough for me.”

MMA / Boxing12 April

Khabib responded to Ferguson, who challenged him to a fight

MMA / Boxing1 April

The UFC has announced the date of the Ferguson-Dariush fight

MMA / Boxing March 29

Tony Ferguson: “I accept that Khabib verbally knocked. 29-1"

MMA / BoxingMarch 21

Ferguson on a possible fight with Makhachev: “The big fat brother wants to fight for him”

MMA / BoxingMarch 11

UFC head White: “Makhachev vs. Ferguson? I like. It will be a good fight"

MMA / Boxing March 7

“I can’t be silent anymore. Give me someone from the top!” Makhachev - after defeating Dober at UFC 259

MMA / Boxing March 7

Makhachev: “2 fights ago, Ferguson was the most desirable opponent for me. There’s not so much interest now.”

MMA / BoxingMarch 4

Ferguson laughed at Khabib’s swollen face due to mumps: “When you can eat as much tiramisu as you want”

MMA / BoxingFebruary 26

Ferguson teased Khabib with a video to Vitas' song: video

MMA / BoxingFebruary 24

Khabib made up a football team of MMA fighters: “Makhachev is the prototype of Bale. Tukhugov is generally made of wood.”

MMA / BoxingFebruary 19

Ferguson reacts to Conor's loss to Poirier

MMA / Boxing24 January

Former UFC champion Bisping responded to Ferguson, who called Khabib's record in MMA overrated

MMA / Boxing10 January

Ferguson explained why he considers Khabib's results in MMA to be overrated

MMA / Boxing10 January

Khabib’s manager turned to Ferguson: “Now no one cares about you”

MMA / BoxingDecember 16, 2020

Ferguson: “I’m far from retiring. The pursuit of greatness never stops"

MMA / BoxingDecember 15, 2020

UFC showed Ferguson's reaction to Khabib's words about retiring: video

MMA / BoxingDecember 13, 2020

Oliveira - after defeating Ferguson: “I’m going for the championship belt”

MMA / BoxingDecember 13, 2020

Tony Ferguson - Charles Oliveira: video of the best moments of the co-main fight at the UFC 256 tournament

MMA / BoxingDecember 13, 2020

"He's not human." The UFC reacted to the painful hold that Tony Ferguson endured

MMA / BoxingDecember 13, 2020

Tony Ferguson lost to Charles Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 256

MMA / BoxingDecember 13, 2020

Tony Ferguson - Charles Oliveira: forecast for the UFC 256 fight from Alexander Emelianenko

MMA / BoxingDecember 12, 2020

Nuances of preparing for fights

Tony Ferguson's height and weight fluctuate during the offseason. Body weight can approach 90 kg, and the boxer himself becomes 2 cm taller. He once reached this figure on the third day after winning a fight. Anthony easily loses weight gained due to the accumulation of water in the body. To successfully pass the weigh-in before a fight, the athlete sits for a long time in the jacuzzi and sauna, runs and trains a lot.

Tony's functional exercises before the fight are especially admired by fans. He performs them every day, working on the accuracy and power of strikes, speed, and endurance. His daily training program includes somersaults, low kicks on lamp posts, precision training with eyes closed, and kung fu classes. The fighter does not forget about other types of martial arts that he masters: Thai boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

How Ferguson is training for UFC 249

In anticipation of the fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson is intensively doing cardio exercises. Such exercises, according to the coach, will allow the fighter to show his strengths and exhaust his opponent in the ring with quick reactions and counterattacks both in the standing position and on the ground. According to estimates, the boxer is in the best shape of his entire sports career.

Tony's training for the fight with Khabib:

Winning the fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov is the main task for Tony. If luck smiles on him, he will emerge from the ring as an MMA champion in his weight category. The athlete has been working on this for the last few years.

Family also remains an important part of Ferguson’s life. The boxer tries to spend all his free time with his wife and son. He also finds time for his hobbies.

Press conference between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson before the fight on April 18, 2021:

Personal life of Tony Ferguson

The athlete lives in Los Santos, California, with his family. An indestructible, ruthless gladiator in the ring, in life he is a loving father and caring husband. He has known his future wife Christine since his university days.

Tony with his wife and son

In 2012, the young people got married, and in 2021 their first child was born, a boy whom Tony named Armand Anthony, in memory of his stepfather, whom he loved as his own father.

Tony named his son Armand Anthony - in memory of his stepfather

Tony Ferguson is passionate about cars and loves to take long trips with his wife and child. He has an impressive collection of bladed weapons, most of which were given to him by friends and fans.

However, at the beginning of 2021, it turned out that not everything in the family was as smooth as it seemed. Tony Ferguson began seeing a psychotherapist after his wife filed a police report against him. The press obtained a recording of Christine's conversation with the 911 dispatcher. In the dialogue, the woman claims that Tony did not harm her and the child, but did strange things, for example, splashed holy water in her face. Based on several interviews with Christine, it can also be concluded that Tony Ferguson suffers from hallucinations, uncontrollable episodes of violence and obsessions. When she contacted the police and obtained a ban on Tony approaching her and the child, the fighter agreed to visit a psychotherapist and soon posted the following post on Instagram:

Personal life: wife and son

Boxer El Cucuy found love while still at university. He became close friends with his classmate Christina Servin. The girl supported the athlete during the most difficult period in his life - when his mother died. From that moment, the young people began dating.

After 6 years in 2011, Christina and Tony got married. In 2021, their son was born, named after the boxer's stepfather and himself - Armand Anthony Ferguson. Lovers sometimes had periods when they did not live together. Then Christina wondered what was happening to her husband: was Tony sick, or was there something wrong with her?

Strange things happened during mental exacerbations of the athlete after fights. Then the boxer had hallucinations, obsessive thoughts, he destroyed the house and changed the locks in panic attacks. According to his wife, Tony never tried to cause physical harm to her or their child. Ferguson later received treatment from a specialist and improved his relationships with his wife, son and stepfather, and his personal life became much brighter.

New turn

His personal life, which included the tragic death of his mother and the need to help the remaining family, took a sharp turn, and if Ferguson had not been a man with a persistent and strong character, he would hardly have been able to achieve further success. Subsequently, he recalled that even at a well-equipped training base for MMA fighters, it was difficult to bring the body, which had forgotten training, back to its former obedient state.

Interesting!

After his first intense workout, he vomited in the locker room from overexertion. It wasn't any easier during the first week. However, two months later it was the old Tony Ferguson, who finally abandoned marketing and bartending and indulged in inhumanly difficult sports training.

The expended efforts were not slow to bear their first fruits. While performing on an MMA show, the newcomer lost only 2 out of 12 fights at the beginning of his career. The audience loved him for his aggressive tactics, assertiveness, will to win and endurance.

Also read: Important points when choosing a mouth guard

Three years later, from the moment he began performing in an MMA show, with a freshly obtained wrestler’s license, Tony Ferguson’s biography turned towards success - he signed a contract with the UFC.

In the first fight and in the first round, he knocked out Ramzi Nijem. It was a crushing victory, a convincing bid for further victories from a newcomer little known in these circles.

El Cucuy (nightmare) is the nickname chosen by the new Tony Ferguson to participate in the reality show. Perhaps fighting qualities were meant, but his personal life, which was now the subject of attention from the press and public, confirmed the correctness of the chosen pseudonym. Tony Ferguson turned out to have a bad Mexican character - cocky, quarrelsome and hot-tempered. He easily lost his temper, even for the most innocuous reasons, got involved in fights and started them himself, always succumbing to provocations.

He lost the only fight out of 15 held throughout 2021 on points. A broken arm put him out of action for six months of treatment and rehabilitation, restoring his athletic form. Those who hoped that the injury would make him less invincible miscalculated. Now he ended every fight with a knockout or strangulation techniques.

This was greatly facilitated by the refined technique of the wrestler, who mastered the techniques of boxing and martial arts, superhuman endurance and paradoxical control of his own body, obtained in basketball and rugby. He himself believed that the author of victories, to a large extent, was his patient coach.

Boxer height and weight

Like any wrestler, El Cucuy's ears are broken and deformed. Outwardly, the athlete looks like a Mexican, but he also has European blood. During the fighting season, Ferguson turns into a dryish and wiry guy, and during the breaks he allows himself to get a little fatter. More often, a boxer wears a short beard and a crew cut.

Tony Ferguson - photo gallery

Family, children and wife of Tony Ferguson - Christina Servin

A man collects edged weapons. On his back he has a tattoo of wings, and on his arm is the abbreviation Think Strong Keep Your Head. He is quick-tempered and easily provoked. Even at home he has breakdowns - his wife filed a report with the police several times. In March 2021, she complained about her husband’s uncharacteristic behavior: he suffered from paranoia and days of insomnia. She believes that tournaments have a negative impact on his health.

Christina Servin - wife (2012)

The young man met his chosen one at the university - she was his classmate. He was then 22 years old. The girl supported him in difficult times, and six years later they got engaged. The solemn moment took place at the airport, as the beloved worked as a flight attendant on international flights. The wedding took place in California, in the bride’s homeland in the city of Los Santos.

Photo from personal archive

Social media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/team__tonyferguson/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Elcucuy155lbs

Twitter:https://twitter.com/tonyfergusonxt

Tony Ferguson has 1.8 million followers on his personal Instagram profile. The fighter posts photos and videos from his family archive, meetings with friends and training. The boxer has a Twitter page, where he often leaves strange and encrypted messages, followed by 387 thousand subscribers. It is better to watch the best video about the life and fights of a fighter on YouTube.