ONE OF A KIND
Inside UFC 249 ace Tony Ferguson’s insane training regime from hitting his bones on metal poles to seven-hour workouts
TONY FERGUSON will go down as one of the most compelling UFC fighters of all time - and he carries that through to his training regime.
The freestyle fighter, who headlines UFC 249 this weekend, is on an amazing 12-fight winning streak, spanning over eight years.
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Ferguson, known as 'El Cucuy' - the name of a Mexican urban legend - does things in his own style and often in the most unique way possible.
Whether this means kicking metal poles or breakdancing in training - Ferguson is one of a kind.
He smashes his shins and elbows against poles to toughen up his bones and improve his striking.
In a video shared by the UFC in 2018, before kicking a metal structure, Ferguson said: "This is a pipe, it's steel. This is my conditioning for my knees, or elbows too.
"I'm all about hit and not get hit, but when I hit I don't want them to hit me back, I want them to think twice if they do."
Other unconventional exercises include performing gymnastics to improve strength while also using park swings to hang off and balance on.
According to UFC featherweight Jeremy Stephens, Ferguson will train for up to SEVEN HOURS before watching a Rocky movie and then completing a midnight run.
Stevens told : “Training with a guy like Tony Ferguson, who’s one of the top in the world, who is more than deserving of a title shot, has so much knowledge and experience of beating guys ass, it was incredible.
“We trained probably six and a half hours straight, and then we’d take a little break. We’d watch Rocky IV and then we went on midnight runs.
“It was an incredible experience. I actually can’t wait to go back and help him train for his upcoming fight, go on them runs, and do that six and a half, seven hours, Floyd Mayweather-type training.
“It’s champ s***. The guy’s incredible, he’s smart. It’s not just barbaric work. The guy trains with extreme intelligence.”
Ferguson, who has eight submission wins, has also crawled down steps before to improve his movement on the ground.
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Usually not interested in traditional training methods, Ferguson is a fan of the speed bag, commonly used to improve a fighters' hand-eye coordination and speed.
But it wouldn't be an El Cucuy session unless there was a twist - leaving it as no surprise that the UFC fighter instead does it blindfolded.
For a long time, Ferguson avoided sparring, revealing before he was scheduled to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in April that he had not sparred since beating Gleison Tibau in 2015.
The Californian did recently share an unorthodox training video as he aggressively flipped a jump box before performing some grappling manoeuvres all in jeans and shoes.
But before his fight against Nurmagomedov was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, the American had returned to sparring in order to perfect the "gameplan" he planned to use on the lightweight king.
Ferguson said: “I haven’t sparred since Tibau. So, it’s a little bit different now.
“It’s kinda like when you graduate from college, you get a bunch of tools and you actually have to go out there and use them on the field. Now I can gameplan.”
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UFC news
Ferguson was denied the chance to fight unbeaten Khabib for a FIFTH time, with the 31-year-old at home in Dagestan and unable to travel back Stateside to fight.
Instead he will now fight Justin Gaethje in the main-event of UFC 249 for the interim belt.
The winner has then been promised a shot at Nurmagomedov in a unification clash.
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