Tony Ferguson has told of how he struggled to get out of bed after suffering a severe injury midway through his UFC losing streak.

The legendary former interim lightweight champion entered the coronavirus pandemic with a grudge fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov booked for a fifth time. He was considered one of the best of his era, and arguably viewed as the unbeaten Russian’s kryptonite.

However, when that bout fell through and he ended up having to face Justin Gaethje, he was brutalized and stopped. This led to an eight-fight losing streak, which saw him booted from the UFC before he launched a revival on Misfits Boxing.

Tony Ferguson opens up about horror injury during UFC losing run

Tony Ferguson put himself through a lot to make it to the Gaethje fight, including infamously making weight twice; once on the original fight date that was scrapped due to covid and again on the actual weigh-in day.

And it all ended up taking a toll on his body, to the point where he struggled to move for over a year. Speaking exclusively with Bloody Elbow, Ferguson said: “For the longest time it would hurt to get out of bed and put my feet on the floor. You’re talking about for around a year-and-a-half my legs were broken.

“This was during the pandemic, around [the Gaethje fight]. I just did not prepare the same. When I prepared for Khabib we were not conditioning our shins and s—. I was preparing for sambo, I was going to throw this dude right on his f—ing back and embarrass him in his own sport.

“So they switch opponents up and my body took a f—ing healing. I wanted to go out there and demonstrate to people how f—ing tough we were as f—ing human beings. There was a lot that went on and a lot of mental weight that I thought I could handle.

“I put it on myself and it dragged me the f— down. That was my own fault and I did that, it took a lot for me to beat the s— out of myself to be able to snap out of it like how I did.”

Tony Ferguson reveals how David Goggins helped him through injury hell.

During the darker periods of Ferguson’s run, he turned to the famed influencer and former navy SEAL David Goggins. He even cornered him for one fight against Paddy Pimblett, and Ferguson became a rare graduate of his ‘Hell Week’ program.

“I had meetings with Goggins and a lot of people,” he continued. “He told me that we needed to get to that mental spot that I needed to be at. Growing up I wanted to be Special Forces, there was just no way for me to be able to do it.

“When I moved back to California I signed up for the Paratroopers and I accidentally signed up for the seven-day free jiu-jitsu class. It’s crazy how it works, man. It’s about not being self-destructive, go and make it more hard for yourself.

“Why? It’s not for the challenge necessarily but it’s because we as human beings we do it to ourselves because we might feel like that. And I hope that any person that sees me get my hand raised, not only am I feeling that.

“I want every other person in the world going through whatever the f— they’re going through can realize there’s light at the end of that tunnel and it’s always possible when you try.”