Tony Ferguson’s Coach Says He “Never Wanted To Be” a Head MMA Coach

UFC 249 ended in a bloody affair with Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje locking horns for the Interim Lightweight title. ‘The Highlight’ emerged the victor of the highly anticipated duel. He carried out the plan to bog down the ‘Boogeyman’ in a devastatingly meticulous fashion.

Although he lost the fight, “El Cucuy” proved why he is one of the most dangerous people on the planet. He took a huge amount of punishment from Gaethje. Any other human being would have fallen in the 2nd round itself. But not Tony Ferguson. He has a diamond for a chin, and he did not back down in the face of the brutal punishment that Gaethje brought with him.

Eddie Bravo, who we saw in Ferguson’s corner, believes that many things went wrong that night. Interestingly, it wasn’t until the 4th round that Bravo realized the condition of his guy. And the circumstances under which he realized are even more bizarre.

Here’s how Eddie described the experience on the Joe Rogan Experience:

“Right when the bell [rang] after the fourth round, Rashad (Holloway) turns around and goes, ‘Eddie, get in there.’ I wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t ready to walk in there!”

“I’m not a Head MMA Coach”- Eddie Bravo explains why sending him in to talk to Tony Ferguson was the wrong decision

Eddie Bravo explained that he was not ready at all to go in and talk Tony up. He said the if the fight had been with a wrestler like Khabib Nurmagomedov, then he could have had a say.

However, he did not know how to handle the situation as it was his first time heading into the Octagon as head coach to talk to his fighter. Moreover, he explained that he did not have his glasses, and hence, was “blind”. Thus, it was when he actually got a close look at Tony that he realized just how badly beat up he was.

“I have never been a Head MMA coach ever in my life. Never wanted to be. Never wanted to be and even to this day, that’s on me, never been. I’m not Trevor Wittman, that guy’s amazing. I’m not a Greg Jackson, Duke Roufus. That’s a whole [other] level. That’s a guy that should be talking to the fighter that’s sitting down.”

Do you agree with Eddie Bravo?