UFC: Tony Ferguson explains how he didn’t tap after Charles Oliveira bent his arm backwards
- ‘Do Bronx’ sunk first-round submission in deep but former interim champ says ‘my mental capacity to endure pain got me through it’
- Ferguson says ‘no excuses’ but puts flat performance down to shorter warm-up times during Covid-19 era
Tony Ferguson has broken his silence after his UFC 256 defeat against Charles Oliveira.
The 31-year-old Brazilian (30-8, one no contest) took a unanimous decision at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night to hand former interim champ “El Cucuy” (26-5) a second straight defeat.
Ferguson’s fifth-round TKO loss to Justin Gaethje in May had snapped a 12-fight win streak that had propelled him to a showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov, before their highly anticipated match-up was scrapped for a fifth time because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Do Bronx” made it an even more miserable 2020 for Ferguson, who somehow survived a deep first-round armbar attempt where his arm was bent backwards.
“My arm is all right, the armbar was really tight,” the American wrote on Instagram, alongside some pictures of his left arm during and after some cupping therapy treatment.
“The thought of my son Armand Anthony’s ability to be double-jointed in his elbow during that sequence and my mental capacity to endure pain got me through it.”
