In the aftermath of UFC 274, Charles Oliveira (33-8) offered to train Tony Ferguson (25-7). Even though he initially didn’t give a direct response to Oliveira, Ferguson has now made it clear that he won’t be training with his former opponent, as he has a rematch in mind.
Right now that it’s not the time for me to go to Chute Boxe: Tony Ferguson declines Charles Oliveira’s offer
Ferguson, a former interim Lightweight champion, suffered his fourth straight defeat at UFC 274, losing to Michael Chandler via a brutal 2nd round front kick KO from Michael Chandler, and has now gone almost three years without a victory. On the other hand, while Oliveira dominated Justin Gaethje to a first round submission victory, “Do Bronx” was stripped off of his lightweight championship before the fight after missing the weigh-in limit by 0.5 pounds.
Soon after the event, Oliveira took to Twitter and offered Ferguson to train together ChuteBoxe’s headquarters in Sao Paulo. However, his fellow 155-pounder spoke to MMA Junkie that he has a rematch against “Do Bronx” in his mind and believes its not the time to train with Oliveira.
“I have to really reflect on what he said, because Chute Boxe is a very good school,” said Ferguson, “But he is in my weight class. I’m one of the only fighters that he hasn’t finished, and I went into that fight practicing zero jiu-jitsu. I didn’t do too bad. I didn’t do as bad as Dustin Poirier just sitting there laying there. I stayed active and I went for submissions everywhere. It’s not like I practiced really hard.”
Oliveira and Ferguson crossed paths on the undercard of UFC 256 on 12th December 2020, in which Oliveira picked up a unanimous decision victory and its the second of the last four losses of Ferguson. Oliveira then went on to clinch the vacant lightweight belt which he was stripped off of before UFC 274.
“I’ve got to really think about that one, because I see myself competing against him again. No animosity, but I went back there and talked to him before the weigh-in faceoffs. I told him, he was signing posting, and I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and I said, ‘Hey, kid. You stay focused, all right?’ He turned around and he looked at me and he knows already. Like I told him inside that octagon (when we fought). I put my arm around his shoulder and said, ‘Walk with me.’”
“I’m a good scout when it comes to certain things. … I know exactly what I have to do and I can’t really say no to it or yes to it. But I know right now that it’s not the time for me to go to Chute Boxe and to train with them. There’s some local gyms out that I’m going to be part of a team and help that team grow as well as myself,” added Ferguson.
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