Who is Tony Ferguson? Meet the iconic UFC fighter who redefined what it meant to be a 'Boogeyman' (2024)

Tony Ferguson is a legend in almost every sense of the word, having redefined what it truly meant to be a ‘Boogeyman’ in the UFC.

A veteran with over 24 fights at the top of the UFCs most elite division, an iconic winning streak, a former world champion, and one of the most popular fighters to have ever graced the octagon – there’s only one Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson.

Tony Ferguson age

Anthony Armand Ferguson Padilla was born on February 12, 1984, in Oxnard, California, but grew up in Muskegon, Michigan.

As of August 2024, he is 40 years old.

Tony Ferguson height, weight and reach

Tony Ferguson stands 5’11” tall with a reach of 76.5″.

Whilst ‘El Cucuy’ did earn the interim lightweight title back in 2017, he has bounced between 155lbs and 170lbs throughout his career; his TUF win also came at welterweight.

Tony Ferguson wife

Tony Ferguson’s wife is called Christina and they have two sons together. In 2019, Christina filed a restraining order against Tony in order to get him “the help necessary to continue being the best possible, as well as to pursue his passion and career as a UFC champion” after he began showing symptoms of paranoia – the order was dropped a few months later.

X/Twitter and Instagram accounts

Tony Ferguson has a big Instagram following of 2.8m and you can become one @tonyfergusonxt.

He also has an X, formerly Twitter, account with 849k followers @TonyFergusonXT.

Tony Ferguson MMA record

Career stats

Tony Ferguson net worth

As per Celebrity Net Worth, Tony Ferguson’s net worth is valued at around $2 million, with other sources reporting that figure is closer to $3.5 million.

Tony Ferguson next fight

Tony Ferguson’s next fight has not yet been officially confirmed after only semi-retiring following his submission loss to veteran Michael Chiesa in August.

Whilst Ferguson has stated that he doesn’t want to hang up the gloves just yet, he is open to competing in another promotion.

Ferguson vs Paddy Pimblett

Tony Ferguson took on British superstar Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett on the main card of UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington in December 2023.

Whilst ‘El Cucuy’ certainly went down fighting, he failed to capitalize on key grappling positions and ended up dropping a unanimous decision to the Liverpudlian.

• Who is Paddy Pimblett? Get to know the ‘baddy’ of MMA who is making his presence felt in UFC

Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov

Arguably the single biggest ‘What If’ in UFC history, the long-term rivalry between Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov was ultimately, an entirely frustrating affair with the fight being made and falling through multiple times.

In fact, between 2015 and 2020, the pair would be booked to face each other on five separate occasions; including when Ferguson held the interim lightweight title.

The most controversial of the five was their then-scheduled 2018 clash in which Ferguson would injure himself by tripping over an electrical cord just a few days before they were ready to settle the score.

Ferguson and David Goggins

Perhaps one of the most divisive trainer-fighter relationships of all time, retired Navy SEAL and ultramarathon runner David Goggins put Ferguson through ‘hell’ when he joined the El Cucuy team last year.

After a series of questionable training routines hit the internet, fans and fighters alike would come out to suggest that Goggins might not have been the right trainer for the never-say-die Ferguson. This included UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who noted that he’d heard “very mixed reviews about whether or not that would be a good thing or a bad thing for him.”

• Who is Joe Rogan? Get to know the UFC mainstay and podcast sensation

Ferguson vs Michael Chandler

A resurgent Tony Ferguson win appeared to be on the cards when he stepped in the cage against Michael Chandler back in 2022 – with ‘El Cucuy’ even dropping the former Bellator world champion in the opening round.

However, things would quickly spiral out of control when Chandler began to find his range on the feet and as Ferguson backed up across the octagon, ‘Iron’ would land arguably the best front-kick KO in UFC history.

Ferguson vs Bobby Green

This one was a particularly frustrating fight to watch as a Ferguson fan as again, he failed to capitalize on an early knockdown and allowed King Green back into the contest.

Whilst it appeared that the fight would go all 15 minutes, Green was able to lock up an arm triangle just six seconds before the final horn; earning Green an extra $50,000 POTN bonus and giving ‘El Cucuy’ his sixth loss in a row.

Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje

This was the contest that forever changed Tony Ferguson; the bout that brought an end to his 12-fight streak and the first of seven straight losses for the iconic lightweight.

Whilst Ferguson was technically only a few significant strikes off Justin Gaethje’s own stats (136/296 to Ferguson, 143/197 to Gaethje), that is by far the tale of this fight, with ‘The Highlight’ dishing out a truly outstanding amount of damage en route to a fifth-round stoppage.

Ferguson vs Anthony Pettis

Back at UFC 229 in 2018, things got off to a shaky start for Ferguson as he was dropped early in the contest.

However, during the fight, Anthony Pettis ended up breaking his hand and after the second round came to a close, the ‘Showtime’ corner opted to throw in the towel to save Pettis from further damage.

Tony Ferguson Havard

Following his fourth-round submission loss to Nate Diaz back in 2022 at UFC 279, Ferguson announced that he’d be going back to school to study business at Harvard.

Tony Ferguson bloody smile

Last but not least, we have the iconic photo of the ‘Bloody Smile’ from the top of this article – one of the most iconic images taken of any UFC fighter.

The picture was snapped during his fight with Anthony Pettis, with ‘El Cucuy’ smiling like a maniac as he was covered in the blood of his lightweight rival; with some fans noting “For a brief moment here, you can see exactly why Tony was given that nickname,” of the Boogeyman.

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