Tony Ferguson Refused to Take Brock Lesnar’s Advice, UFC Vet Discloses Retirement Concerns From TUF Coach

Tony Ferguson has found himself in a bad spot as of late. He has not been able to register a win since 2020 and ended up amassing a 7-fight losing streak trying to turn his luck. He recently made an appearance on Quinton Jackson‘s ‘JAXXON Podcast‘, where he mentioned having a conversation with his former TUF coach, Brock Lesnar, who gave him a suggestion after a string of poor performances inside the Octagon.

‘El Cucuy’ burst into the UFC scene during the thirteenth installment of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. He was a member of coach Brock Lesnar’s team and went against the fighters from Junior dos Santos‘ team. It has been fourteen years since the show ended, but Tony Ferguson still keeps in touch with the former UFC heavyweight champion, who he holds in high regard. Talking to ‘Rampage,’ ‘El Cucuy’ revealed that Lesnar once asked him to hang up his gloves after he lost his third fight in a row in 2021.

Brock Lesnar asked Tony Ferguson to retire

‘The Beast Incarnate’ has close relations with people whom he has worked with, and hence has been in contact with Tony Ferguson. He even suggested that ‘El Cucuy’ consider retiring from the sport of MMA after his loss against Beneil Dariush back at UFC 262. He said, “Coach [Lesnar] was cool as f*… I still keep in contact with coach and he said, after one of my fights, may it was like four fights ago, ‘You should think about retiring.'” Needless to say, Ferguson did not consider that piece of advice and continued to fight.

Not only did Brock Lesnar raise concerns regarding Tony Ferguson’s MMA career, he also made sure to remind the former interim champion of his legal duties. “He was real… Coolest thing was he would always tell me, ‘Save your money, pay your taxes,’ after every f***ing fight.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson also revealed that he was happy to have been a member of Lesnar’s TUF team since he was not as big of a fan of Junior dos Santos.

Read More: Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Warning Rings True for Alexander Volkanovski; Is ‘The Great’ on His Way to Suffer Tony Ferguson’s Fate?

“When we had The Ultimate Fighter, when they were choosing whether dos Santos or Lesnar, I didn’t want to go to Dos Santos team,” said Tony Ferguson. During the conversation, ‘El Cucuy’ also revealed another important piece of advice that he received from Brock Lesnar’s university coach. Let’s take a look at that front.

Lesnar’s coach also gave ‘El Cucuy’ lifelong advice during TUF 13

During the initiation process on TUF 13, Tony Ferguson mentioned that even if he did not want to join Junior dos Santos’s team, he could have done that. However, they did not have that choice. All the contestants were immediately put to the test as they were asked to spar with each other. Ferguson further stated, “I could have [joined dos Santos] but they threw us on a f***ing cage. There were 14 of us and they said. ‘You guys spar.'”

Thereafter, Ferguson decided to put on a submission move on one of the contestants, trying to survive the ordeal. In the end, Junior dos Santos wasn’t impressed with ‘El Cucuy’ and he ended up having Brock Lesnar as his coach. “I threw a flying armbar and I just stayed on the back, I was like [making noises]… They [dos Santos team] didn’t obviously choose me. I went over to Lesnar’s team.”

Once that was done with, Tony Ferguson received pointers during a wrestling session with Brock Lesnar’s team, which is still something that he follows to this day. Moreover, it was not his something that ‘The Beast Incarnate’ said. Rather, it was Lesnar’s coach from the University of Minnesota.

“We were doing takedowns… and I let this dude take me down and then coach Marty, Brock’s coach from the University of Minnesota. He’s like, ‘Hey, you let him take you down?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I thought we were drilling.’ You know, he goes, ‘Tony, don’t let anybody take you down,’ and it’s always been that mindset,” said ‘El Cucuy’.

It seems like many people, including Ferguson’s TUF coach Brock Lesnar, are not in favor of him continuing to fight. ‘El Cucuy’ has already made his mark in the promotion and has made a case to be called one of the greatest 155-pound contenders ever. However, it remains to be seen what Tony Ferguson decides since he has not yet hinted at retirement.

Read More: Jay Ellis and His 100 MMA Losses: A Look Into His Bizarre Mixed Martial Arts Career