The entire world of mixed martial arts cast its worries when Tony Ferguson said, “I’m not retiring, I’m too old to retire.” ‘El Cucuy’ didn’t let his age or his 8-fight losing streak dictate his future in the fighting realm, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Watching the once-dominant fighter lose 8 straight fights is nothing short of heartbreaking for the fight fans. And now Ferguson is back, fighting for the GFL, with his latest fight being announced. While it is worrying that ‘El Cucuy’ chooses to fight despite his recent skid, one can breathe someone of a sigh of relief considering who he’s paired up with in his GFL debut.

As per GFL’s official announcement, Tony Ferguson’s opponent will be Conor McGregor’s former teammate, Dillon Danis. The post on Instagram had a poster of ‘El Cucuy’ vs. ‘El Jefe’. It ensured that the fighting community’s entropy went skyrocketing. In the caption, the text read, “🚨 GFL Fans 🚨You asked, we listened! Our most requested bout is now official as Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson squares off with Dillon “El Jefe” Danis in a legendary Lightweight matchup. Who you got?”

While Ferguson was keeping the fighting realm concerned, Danis fought under the banner of Bellator FC. But Danis’ MMA record has only 2 fights, which were actually wins via submission. Ferguson being a fierce striker, might just put Danis to sleep early on, given the latter’s abysmal boxing skills. ‘El Cucuy’s tendency to maul his opponents while still on the feet would probably force Danis to keep his guard up. This might give Ferguson enough chances to target his body and find openings in his opponent’s defense. However, pitting a 41-year-old to compete against someone 10 years younger is not a good look.

It didn’t take the fighting community enough time to bounce around like ‘Joy Boy’ from the popular anime One Piece after hearing Tony Ferguson’s return to the fighting realm. However, the comments section of the Instagram post seemed to have mixed reactions from fight fans. Let’s take a look at what the fighting world had to say. 

Fight fans cast a shadow of doubt over Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis announcement

Some fans decided to bring Danis’ rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov into the fold. Well, Danis was one of the reasons why ‘The Eagle’ jumped the cage after beating Conor McGregor and started a brawl at UFC 229. While Nurmagomedov was also a rival to Ferguson, one fan wrote that fighting Danis gives the Dagestani an incentive to corner ‘El Cucuy’. The comment read, “Khabib will corner tony just to spite dannis.” 

One of the fans was completely disappointed with the announcement. He claimed, “What a disaster.” And some fans believed that the 41-year-old should just retire. One fan commented, “Tony needs to just ride off into the sunset.” Meanwhile, another fan added, “Let Tony rest already.”

Soon after the announcement was made on the social media platform, Derek Brunson took to the comments section and dropped a fire emoji to show his enthusiasm. But some fans also believed that it was the beginning of Ferguson’s title run. One fan wrote, “Tony’s title run starts now.” Another fan commented, “LET’S GOOO 🔥 TITLE RUN STARTS NOW!! 💥.” The hope of watching ‘El Cucuy’ finally win after losing 8 battles was all the motivation that the fighting realm needs (or doesn’t?). One fan wrote, “Time to watch Tony finally get a win 🔥👏.” Another comment read, “Tony by whatever he wants.” 

Meanwhile, fight fans weighed in on ‘El Jefe’s tendency to pull out of his fights. He talked quite a bit of trash about his enemies on social media. But when it came to fighting, the bout never usually materialized. Weighing in on this, a fan wrote, “Dillon bout to pull out!” Another fan commented, “Dillon is 110% pulling out I’ll bet the house on ot.” 

However, some comments reflected fans’ skepticism about the bout itself. One fan wrote, “I am not sure what to think about this.” Another fan pointed out that the announcement had no mention of the date or the venue. The comment read, “Fight announcement with no date?” No wonder, the fans were pretty doubtful of the bout. 

What are your thoughts on the matchup between Ferguson and Danis? Do you think ‘El Cucuy’ can finally break free of his losing streak and defeat ‘El Jefe’? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.