MMA Twitter falls for fake Tony Ferguson 'could have survived Chernobyl' tweet 

Tony Ferguson never said that he could have survived the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But a tweet from the parody fan account 'Out of Context MMA' fooled fans into believing that he did. In their defense, Tony Ferguson is the type of guy who'd make such a claim in a deadpan face.

The said disaster took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat. The incident remains one of only two incidents rated at the maximum level of severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

The tweet by the account posted a fake conversation between Ferguson and another fan, in which 'El Cucuy' was seemingly claiming:

"If I was at Chernobyl I would've stopped it."

See the tweet below:

While some easily caught the joke, other fans thought it was an actual screenshot of a real Twitter thread.

Take a look at some of the reactions below:

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Does Tony Ferguson still have what it takes to compete at the highest level?

Tony Ferguson, once considered one of the most dangerous fighters in the lightweight division, has had a rough patch lately. 'El Cucuy' is currently on a five-fight losing skid, with three of those defeats coming via finish.

In 2022, he lost via a brutal front-kick knockout against Michael Chandler at UFC 274 before tapping out to a guillotine choke versus Nate Diaz at UFC 279.

Prior to his knockout loss to Chandler, 'El Cucuy' suffered decision losses against former champion Charles Oliveira and the No.4-ranked Beneil Dariush. Even though he was able to go the three-round distance with both men, he wasn't able to mount any considerable offense.

Ferguson recently trained at Jackson Wink MMA in August prior to his fight with Nate Diaz. 'El Cucuy' was initially supposed to face Li Jingliang, but as Khamzat Chimaev missed weight, the whole card was reshuffled. Eventually, it was decided that Ferguson would face Diaz in the main event of UFC 279.

Prior to Justin Gaethje putting the brakes on Ferguson's 12-fight win streak, 'El Cucuy' was on a tear in the lightweight division and seemed unstoppable. Tony Ferguson's winning run included nine stoppages, three of which came in the first round.

That version of 'El Cucuy' was no doubt one to behold.

The most anticipated bout that Ferguson could potentially have competed in was against Khabib Nurmagomedov, a fight that was booked and canceled five times due to various reasons. The matchup is considered to be one of the most 'cursed' in UFC history.

It remains to be seen where Tony Ferguson will go from here in MMA. As of this writing, a fight hasn't been booked for the former interim champion. He also recently joined Harvard University to pursue a business degree.