UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira recently made an offer to Tony Ferguson to come train with him in Brazil. The two fought back in 2020 and have been on very different career paths afterward.
Tony Ferguson had to legitimately consider the offer since Charles Oliveira trains out of a very good gym in Brazil. The UFC champion is still on his radar as an opponent since he's currently the lightweight champion.
“I have to really reflect on what he said, because Chute Boxe is a very good school,” UFC lightweight Ferguson said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “But he is in my weight class. I’m one of the only fighters that he hasn’t finished, and I went into that fight practicing zero jiu-jitsu. I didn’t do too bad. I didn’t do as bad as Dustin Poirier just sitting there laying there. I stayed active and I went for submissions everywhere. It’s not like I practiced really hard.
“I’ve got to really think about that one, because I see myself competing against him again. No animosity, but I went back there and talked to him before the weigh-in faceoffs. I told him, he was signing posting, and I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and I said, ‘Hey, kid. You stay focused, all right?’ He turned around and he looked at me and he knows already. Like I told him inside that octagon (when we fought). I put my arm around his shoulder and said, ‘Walk with me.’ I’m a good scout when it comes to certain things. … I know exactly what I have to do and I can’t really say no to it or yes to it. But I know right now that it’s not the time for me to go to Chute Boxe and to train with them. There’s some local gyms out that I’m going to be part of a team and help that team grow as well as myself,” the UFC fighter concluded.
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