UFC 279: Diaz vs. Ferguson

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

d rod army 💪

Chimaev vs. Diaz
Khamzat Chimaev
You are out of your mind if you believe Nate Diaz can beat Khamzat Chimaev.

Li vs. Ferguson
Jingliang Li
Fresh fighter, has a lot of potential, Tony too old and getting rocked.

Li vs. Ferguson
Jingliang Li, TKO, R2
This just went from "weak card topped by a non sense mismatch" to "weak card topped by two non sense mismatches". I meen, I'm a big fan of both fighters, but Ferguson is absolutely shot and Jingliang should be fighting inside the top 10 of his division... At least there is a fun and grotesque Bellator flavour to this event now, but this is not a meaningfull fight.

He has lost to 4 straight killers of the lightweight division. Ferguson was doing well versus Chandler before being knocked out. The jury is still out for me. 

Seeing Ferguson a lightweight legend return to welterweight is very meaningful to me. 

But I honestly don’t know what a meaningful fight means. If there ever has been a meaningful fight, it’s Drod versus Holland. The winner of this fight undoubtedly will get a ranked opponent next. And seeing how Holland is one of the UFC fan favorites, this is a big deal. 

Johnny Walker versus Cutealba is a good fight with a lot on the line for both fighters. Both are very exciting to watch and if the winner impresses, they most likely will be fighting a big name next. 

I would give my left nut to see this version of Tony come back against Li. 

Yeah Michael, I understand your perspective.

As a Ferguson fan myself I was first excited at a welterweight debut...

But what a meaningfull means (to me at least), is a fight that makes sense for BOTH fighters and/or for the fans.
This doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
A win for Jingliang (over an old lightweight on a long losing streak) does nothing for him except a paycheck, a win for Ferguson is highly unlikely and anyway it would only condamn himself to a crual death sentence against another killer in the top 10 of the division, so I think the UFC (and yourself) are just expecting a fun potential Fight of the night in a losing effort, but even this seems unlikely to me at this point, and I don't think I'm comfortable watching Ferguson fights anymore.

 Ferguson indeed lost to killers. But he not only lost, he got sadly destroyed or dominated every single time. The Gaethje fight was the most brutal and disturbing one sided beating I saw this side of Benoît Saint Denis vs Zaleski dos Santos, Charles Oliveira and Dariush played with him like a useless doll, and I agree he looked good against Chandler in the first round, but hélas his chin nowadays is EVEN WORSE than Chandler's, wich is something terrible, and he was almost condamn to lose against a hard puncher at this point of his career.

He always took an insane amount of dammage even in his wins, had some brutal injuries recently, and some heavy and disturbing mental issues if you're following him on social media.

He had a great carreer, as arguably the best lightweight to not win a belt, gave us some incredible wars over the years, but now he has nothing he can seriously gain in other fights. A serious welterweight run is highly unlikely, and the only fights he should take at this point is against other old fading legends without brutal KO power, like Jim Miller (who also moved to WW recently), or why not Trinaldo, but not Li ******* Jingliang, who is a legit top 10 Welterweight with dangerous power in his hands in the run for the title.

I completely agree about Holland vs Daniel Rodriguez tho (and yeah, Cutelaba vs Walker will be chaos), the card looks a lot better now.

Just my opinion of course, but I hate this fight.

The reason why I like fighting is because Tony Ferguson can land one punch, one kick or one submission and everything you said about him goes out the window and his next fight is even bigger. 

For Ferguson, this is an opportunity to fight a RANKED UFC fighter and prove he is not done like you think. 

For Jingliang, this would be the biggest win of his career. He would defeat a legend of the sport, and former interim Champion. Jingliang has a big fan base in China so defeating such a big name will undoubtedly be good for his brand.

Jim Miller moved to welterweight for a one off against Donald Cerrone, so a fight between them would make more sense at lightweight. But Jim Miller recently knocked out a young fighter so he has power. 

Trinaldo might be old and that's why you put him as a possible fighter. If you have seen Trinaldo fight recently, you know he is as tough an out as Jingliang and I would think he would look huge versus Ferguson.

Therefore I believe both of the perspective fighters you laid out for him would also be very difficult and dangerous opponents too. Why not take the highest ranked, most difficult fight. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Ferguson versus either one of those guys. 

This is the UFC and everybody can beat everybody. The last UFC card proved that.

well yeah of course Tony CAN beat Li, but will he? I COULD beat Li, but would I really? how does Ferguson realistically win this fight? 

Jesus Christ, you just denied every single point I made, haha !


I't's okay, you did it with respect and reasonable arguments (even if I don't agree with most of them), so it's all good.

I completely agree Ferguson can win, and you seem to agree it's highly unlikely.

The difference is just that I think Ferguson is almost one punch or two away from dying into the octogon, and I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable watching him getting destroyed for an improbable glory (if he wins against the Leech, the probability he can replicate that miracle against a higher ranked fighter are getting close to none, even for his more enthusiastic fans ).


I'm sure there is still some Bigfoot Silva fans out there rooting for him to win a plastic belt in Russia against an old neo nazi bodybuilder or something like that, and maybe that's why he's still fighting. That and pride. Why not.

In the end it's their decision to continue fighting or not, and if we're honest we're all watching men hurting badly each other for our entertainment, so what can I do except explain my feelings on an MMA forum.

I really hope he chokes the Leech out of Jingliang after a Fight of the Year candidate and retires from the sport.

"I't's okay, you did it with respect and reasonable arguments (even if I don't agree with most of them), so it's all good."


Same John.


I wouldn't say I think it highly improbable Ferguson wins. I wouldn't compare Ferguson to Big Foot. Look at the level of competition Big Foot has been losing too.


I disagree with the narrative around Ferguson. Let's see how the fight goes. I think it is plenty intriguing.

I will watch for sure, and will be rooting for Ferguson (but betting on Jingliang).

But don't get me wrong : I wasn't exactly comparing Ferguson to Bigfoot, I know Ferg is still UFC level, I was just bringing Bigfoot in there as an extreme exemple of a good fighter who almost reached the top and should have stopped just after that.
Or just after his 4rth or 5th loss in a row.

But yeah, even Ferguson with sun glasses would probably win against Bigfoot at this point.

To me Bigfoot is like Tony Ferguson in a few years from now if he keeps fighting...

Let's see how the fight goes indeed. Ferguson has nothing to prove anymore. Let's see if he can prove me wrong !

I say for $70 card the first three fights are fine, Walker vs Cutelaba and Holland vs Rodriguez are good fights And Irene Aldana is one of the most entertaining fighter on the roster

My problem with the card, I don’t want to see old fighter I like get merked I.e Tony and Nate. Espaccaly  Tony is coming off one of most brutal KO in UFC history, him being back 4 month later should be a crime. Should the commemsion be stopping Tony fighting so soon, Someone should save Tony from himself

I think I’ll be more fine with Tony vs the leach, If Tony wasn’t coming back so soon after the Chandler KO, 

* Edited at 09.01.2022, 7:17 AM ET *

Walker vs. Cutelaba
Johnny Walker, TKO, R1
Yes, I picked Johnny Walker to win in 2022. If he loses this, it's probably time to hang up the gloves.

Holland vs. Rodriguez
Kevin Holland, DEC
D-Rod is a tough guy to finish. I think this could even be a split decision but Holland imo gets the win. Holland is coming into his prime while D-Rod is leaving his prime and I don't see Holland being wrestled for 3 rounds. In a pure striking fight, I'll lean Holland although D-Rod is a very live dog.

Pickett vs. Tiuliulin
Jamie Pickett, DEC
MW depth is pretty terrible tbh. Pickett also showed no fight IQ when he tapped with one second left in the round against Daukaus. He fought better competition though so I'll pick him anyway.

Happy Turkalij is finally in the ufc but he’s getting wrecked here 

Almeida vs. Turkalj
Jailton Almeida, TKO, R1
Anton is getting beat anywhere the fight goes

jailton is -1500 ***

Turkalj looked awful on the contender series. Why bring him in?

Easy fight for Jailton, hopefully he can get a fight with a ranked opponent before the end of the year.