Fight Fans React to Tony Ferguson’s Official UFC Roster
Tony Ferguson’s name disappeared from the UFC roster in January 2025, ending a 14-year run with the promotion. The change came days after Ferguson was announced as a Global Fight League signing, so the roster update alone does not show that the UFC abruptly cut him because of his losing streak. His final UFC fight had been a submission loss to Michael Chiesa in August 2024, the eighth consecutive defeat of his career. The news prompted fans to revisit both the remarkable peak that made “El Cucuy” a star and the difficult final stretch.
The roster change followed a new deal
On January 24, the Global Fight League announced Ferguson among its new signings for a planned 2025 season. A roster tracker listed him as removed from the UFC four days later. The sequence matters: he was already linked to another promotion before the UFC roster entry changed. Contemporary coverage described the move as Ferguson parting ways with the UFC and joining GFL; it did not report a new fight contract with the UFC being terminated in response to one result. The announcement of his GFL signing came first.
Ferguson’s final UFC appearance was at UFC on ABC 7 in Abu Dhabi, where Chiesa submitted him with a rear-naked choke in the first round. The loss extended a run that included defeats to Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green, and Paddy Pimblett. ESPN reported that the Chiesa result set a UFC record for consecutive losses at the time. The eighth-loss report documented the streak before Ferguson’s roster status changed.
A celebrated peak and a painful decline
The losing streak became the first point many fans raised, but it was only one part of Ferguson’s UFC story. He won 12 straight UFC bouts from 2013 through 2019, captured the interim lightweight championship by defeating Kevin Lee, and earned wins over fighters including Rafael dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Anthony Pettis, and Donald Cerrone. His creativity in scrambles, pace, and willingness to fight through adversity made him one of the division’s most distinctive contenders. The UFC athlete record preserves the official fight history behind that run.
That contrast explains why the roster news drew such different reactions. Some fans treated the end of his UFC tenure as a sad close to a memorable chapter; others argued that the eight-fight skid made a change necessary and worried about the risks of continuing to compete. Those are opinions, not a single consensus. Ferguson had also publicly resisted retirement talk, and a move to a new league gave him a possible route to continue on his own terms.
The GFL plan stalled, then Ferguson boxed
GFL initially advertised a matchup with Dillon Danis as part of its debut events. Those May 2025 events were later canceled before the promotion staged its launch, leaving Ferguson’s planned MMA return there unrealized. MMA Fighting’s follow-up reported that the event cancellation left the proposed bout in limbo. The roster move, then, did not immediately lead to the new MMA platform fans had expected.
Ferguson later shifted to boxing. On August 30, 2025, he made his professional boxing debut against Salt Papi at Misfits Boxing 22 and won by third-round technical knockout. DAZN’s event recap and highlights documented the finish. That result ended his combat-sports losing run, although it was a boxing victory rather than a return to MMA.
Ferguson’s UFC departure is best understood as a transition after a long, difficult final chapter, not as a verdict that erases his earlier achievements. The roster update closed his UFC record; it did not settle whether he would keep competing or what form that next chapter would take. His GFL plan fell through, but the later boxing win showed that he was still pursuing fights outside the Octagon.
