Getty Conor McGregor
Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson suffered a devastating KO at UFC 274, and that night, Conor McGregor took the opportunity to poke fun at “El Cucuy.”
Ferguson entered the Octagon on Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Pheonix, Arizona, looking to halt his 0-3 skid. He drew No. 5-ranked 155 pounder Michael Chandler and although El Cucuy had success in the opening frame, he was crushed by a head kick seconds into the second round.
As pointed out by the commentary team, Ferguson was grounded for minutes after the fight was called off by the referee. He was the only fighter on Saturday night to be transported to the hospital, UFC president Dana White confirmed during the post-fight press conference. And MMA Fighting reported shortly after that “El Cucuy” had been released from the hospital following a negative CT scan.
“Officials announced at the evening’s post-fight press conference that Ferguson was released from the hospital and that his CT (computed tomography) scans were negative following Saturday’s event,” the outlet reported.
“CT scans are typically meant to detect any immediate brain damage, which was an obvious concern following Ferguson’s main card loss to Michael Chandler.”
McGregor Likened Ferguson to a McDonald’s Chicken Nugget
McGregor took to Twitter after the May 7th fight card and he poked fun at his longtime MMA rival. Ferguson has famously called the Irishman “McNuggets” in the past, and McGregor decided to stick with the theme.
“Tony had some great nuggets in the media build up,” McGregor tweeted. “Then he got punt kicked to the chin and got turned into a nugget himself. That’s crazy.”
“Notorious” then shared a zoomed-in still of Chandler’s foot landing on Ferguson’s face. McGregor wrote: “If you pulled that out of a McDonald’s bag you’d dip it in sauce and eat without a moments thought. No doubt. That would pass as a legit @McDonalds chicken nugget. That’s Crazy!” See the embedded tweet below:
McGregor continued, tweeting a screenshot of a Mcdonald’s chicken nugget and writing “That’s crazy.”
“Guys, I don’t know whether I love this game or hate this game hahahaha,” McGregor also wrote.
Ferguson Is Now 0-4 in His Last Four Octagon Appearances
El Cucuy continues his downhill spiral in the UFC. At the start of 2020, Ferguson was viewed by many as possibly the best 155 pounder on earth, and he was scheduled to fight then-lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov for the belt.
However, due to pandemic travel restrictions, Nurmagomedov was forced out of the bout and Ferguson fought Justin Gaethje for the interim strap instead. They paired up at UFC 249 in May 2020.
Ferguson entered the fight riding the momentum of his 12-fight win streak, however “The Highlight” snapped it via fifth-round TKO. Ferguson looked to bounce back against Charles Oliveira in December of the same year, but he was dominated from pillar to post thanks to the Brazilian’s ground game.
El Cucuy’s next fight was much of the same. He drew Beneil Dariush at UFC 262 in May 2021 and dropped the contest by a lopsided unanimous decision. His head kick KO loss to Chandler is Ferguson’s fourth defeat in a row.