"Doesn't look like he has it anymore" - Tony Ferguson fan Robert Whittaker worried about Paddy Pimblett matchup 

UFC veteran Tony Ferguson is set to take on lightweight sensation Paddy Pimblett in the closing pay-per-view of the year at UFC 296.

The two fighters will take on each other on December 16 on the back of contrasting runs of form.

Paddy Pimblett is unbeaten inside the octagon despite a controversial win in his last outing whereas Ferguson has endured an abysmal six-fight losing skid. UFC middleweight Robert Whittaker weighed in on the fight and Ferguson's waning skill on the MMArcade Podcast.

"I think me and a lot of other UFC fans, especially fans of Tony Ferguson, I’m a fan. We thought his last fight was his last fight. Like, that’s what it looked like. It’s not like he’s been on an incline or he’s been just getting beaten or he’s having tight fights but losing just somehow. It hasn’t been that way and honestly, the Tony Ferguson I saw last time in the octagon was just one that doesn’t look like he has it anymore."

Robert Whittaker added that he was hoping to be surprised and proved wrong by 'El Cucuy'.

"And don’t get me wrong, I want to be wrong. I told you, I’m a fan. I want to be wrong. I want to see him come back into this fight with Paddy, put on a clinical performance and move from there. But for a few fights now, we haven’t seen the same Tony, we haven’t. I don’t know what changed but we don’t see that same Ferguson that was an absolute nightmare in the division."

Check out his comments below [14:50]:

---

Tony Ferguson opens up about Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement and their elusive matchup

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov were not destined to meet each other inside the octagon.

The UFC tried to book the two together five times and each time the ill-fated matchup fell through to injury and other problems. Ferguson recently spoke about how he felt when Nurmagomedov shocked the world by retiring without notice.

He spoke on The MMA Hour about harboring hopes of a Khabib Nurmagomedov return.

"I know when Khabib left, a little part of me left with that. It kind of sucked a little bit because we’ve always had that, I don’t want to say negative energy, but that hype that was built around that. Then when that disappeared and the pandemic hit and the f***king team left. There was nothing else left for me kind of. Except what I told myself is I wanted to compete. I wanted to compete enough so that way maybe possibly, win or lose, Khabib would come back."

Check out his comments below: