Ferguson (25-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) said,
“I got knocked the f*ck out,”
“I don’t want that sh*t to ever happen again. It could’ve, one – been prevented – and two, I should’ve had him finished in the first round. As soon as I knocked him down. The little basics that I could’ve did to make sure I could’ve got out in the first round, and everybody would be kissing my ass. But God works in mysterious ways, and he’s not ready yet, son. He had me sit down and take a nap and rest for a second, because I work my ass off this camp with this humility that people want to present to me. I’m a new man. I don’t care. I’ve been to hell and back and I’m here now. Reborn again. And I’m here to take over.
“There’s only so much humility a man can go through. I’ve been through it all, right? I’ve had my belt stripped – I don’t have to go back and refurbish all that stuff. But going back and looking at it, the first round I didn’t do too bad. I was having fun in there, I had a good fight week. I started loosening up in there more toward the fight, which was fun. It was really good to be back in there, I’ll be real. Except for the second round. The second round, I’m still kind of flabbergasted why I was backing up.”
“When I’m ready to fight I will let the UFC know, and I guarantee you they’ll let me know, too, ‘Hey, this is who we have.’ I was ready for Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi if some things would’ve been a little bit different. But I try to take these opportunities and present them so I’m there for the company. They know I’m a company man, and that’s why they said I’m not going anywhere.”
