LAS VEGAS -- It made no sense -- none, not a shred -- for Paddy Pimblett to agree to fight Tony Ferguson. Ferguson is closing in on his 40th birthday, and his recent record would suggest he's a shell of the elite and highly entertaining fighter he once was.
It might make sense for Pimblett if Ferguson was ranked, because at least in that scenario, a win could be a pathway for Pimblett to hit the Top 15 in the UFC's lightweight rankings. But with Ferguson entering the bout against Pimblett on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena on the main card of UFC 296 with six consecutive losses, Pimblett has a legitimate question whether he'll gain anything with a win.
"I know what is going to happen and I'm not going to get the credit [I deserve for my win]," Pimblett told keviniole.com. "I lose and I lost to a guy who had lost six in a row. I win and I win and I just beat a guy who lost six in a row. I don't see it that way; I'm fighting a legend, someone I was watching since I was 16. An amazing fighter. ... But look, I know if I win, I'm not going to get the credit. I guess I have to go out and finish him faster than anyone else."
Despite that, Pimblett said yes. MMA fighters never cease to amaze how they're willing to take seemingly unwise risks. Look at Kevin Holland, the UFC welterweight contender, who threw his hat in the ring to fight Vicente Luque on Saturday after UFC CEO Dana White announced late Wednesday that Luque's original opponent, Ian Machado Garry, was out of their fight with pneumonia.
Luque is an elite fighter who has had a full training camp, but Holland is willing to jump in on short notice.
Hopefully, that culture will never change in MMA.
"I'm here. I'm back to where I needed to be. I'm much better than I ever have been. I'm faster. I'm stronger. I'm mentally stronger ... "
-- Lightweight contender Tony Ferguson
And that leads us to Ferguson, the highly popular one-time interim lightweight champion who has suddenly found himself on the wrong side of the ledger on a regular basis. It wasn't all that long ago that there were knowledgeable MMA people who picked Ferguson to defeat the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now, the biggest thing you hear from fans is that they wish Ferguson would retire.
There's an argument to be made for that, to be sure. You lose six in a row and getting back into the title picture is all but impossible. And that's especially true when the fighter who has lost six in a row has lost two by KO, two by submission and is within two months of his 40th birthday.
As a reminder, these are Ferguson's last six bouts, in descending order:
That's a lot of losses.
But take a look at Pimblett's last six fights, and as you do, ask yourself two questions: First, what would Ferguson's record in those six bouts have been had he fought the guys Pimblett did? Second, what would Pimblett's record in those six bouts be had he fought the men that Ferguson faced?
That said, these are Pimblett's last six opponents:
Obviously, the records are starkly different. But Ferguson fought all ranked fighters and some of the best lightweights of all-time. Pimblett's competition was much lighter, and it's a fair guess to say that Ferguson would have won at least four or five, if not all six, of bouts against that level of opposition. And Ferguson had his moments in most of the six fights he lost.
Pimblett is an on-the-rise fighter and would never have been matched with those six opponents Ferguson faced, but for the sake of argument, which of them could he have beaten? Bobby Green would be the most obvious choice, but I would believe Green would have been able to handle Pimblett at this stage of their careers.
Now, there is a lot of controversy surrounding Pimblett's win over Gordon. Many believe Gordon deserved to win that bout, and were turned off by Pimblett's seeming arrogance at the post-fight news conference when he insisted he'd won and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Pimblett injured his ankle on a kick in the first round and was limping badly afterward.
"I know I could have done better than I did, but when you injure your [ankle] that early, you just have to get through it," he said.
In retrospect, Pimblett recognizes the fight was closer than he admitted and said, "When I watched it back, it was far from a robbery, right? It's apparent it could have went either way and if I would have lost that fight after watching it back, I wouldn't have been able to complain about it. But you also need to remember, that was Jared's best performance of his life and it was my worst, and I was also injured there 12 days before.'
He knows Ferguson represents a challenge, and in speaking to keviniole.com, Pimblett repeatedly referred to Ferguson as a legend. These, though, are the kinds of crossroads fights that have been a staple in combat sports history: The young hungry lion looking to make a name at the expense of the again veteran.
Ferguson, though, has done extreme training with former Navy SEAL David Goggins, and insists he's become a different man as a result of it. On his podcast, UFC television analyst Joe Rogan wasn't sure what to make of Ferguson working with Goggins.
"I don't know what it will do [for Ferguson training with Goggins]," Rogan said on The Joe Rogan Experience. "We don't know, because we've never seen anybody train with David before. You could say on one hand, 'Look, clearly when the two of them are training together, David's not struggling at all and Tony is struggling.' So there is definitely some ground to gain when it comes to endurance."
Goggins, though, said Ferguson is the first person to make it through what he called his "Hell Week," and at UFC 296 media day on Wednesday, Ferguson insisted he's going to be a different person than he's been.
He's long been noted for his great conditioning, but if Goggins helped him take it to another level, it's got to be helpful.
"I'm not sand-bagging," Ferguson said. "I'm here. I'm back to where I needed to be. I'm much better than I ever have been. I'm faster. I'm stronger. I'm more mentally strong than any f*cking person who is going to be here who walks through those f*cking cage walls, who has ever been through those cage walls. You guys will see on Saturday. It's hardly not going to be the same me."
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