08 November 2023 , 14:00
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UFC legend Tony Ferguson has been training with former US Navy Seal and endurance athlete David Goggins for his fight against Paddy Pimblett.
Ferguson looks to break a five-fight losing run when he takes on Pimblett at UFC 296 on December 16 in Las Vegas. The former interim lightweight champion hasn't won since stopping fellow legend Donald Cerrone in June 2019, with his past defeats coming to the likes of Bobby Green and Nate Diaz.
In a bid to revive his career, Ferguson teamed up with Goggins to go through seven days of intense training that is known as 'hell week'. US Navy Seals perform the week as part of their basic training and Goggins once put himself through three of the weeks during his days in the military, after pneumonia and stress fractures forced him to drop out of the first two.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
"Day 1 of hell week with Tony Ferguson consisted of three-plus hours of high-intensity, tempo cardio, over 600 push-ups, tons of chest exercises, stairclimber/assault bike/rowing/elliptical and then repeat. Tony is giving everything he has and is officially back in the lab! Stay hard," Goggins wrote on Instagram.
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Ferguson said of the training. "Thank you Coach Goggins. UFC 296 fight prep, have A great week crew and remember to break a sweat motherf*****s. Champ as coach D.Goggins says 'Stay Hard', Paddy Cakes going down." Ferguson isn't the first UFC fighter to work with Goggins this year as Jon Jones sought his advice before winning the heavyweight title in March.
Pimblett has been sidelined all year after sustaining a broken foot in his controversial decision win against Jared Gordon last December. Ferguson is hoping a win against 'The Baddy' will set up a fight against Conor McGregor, a match-up he's been calling for since both men were atop of the lightweight division.
"I have nothing against the kid, Patrick seems like a pretty legit dude. He gets pretty big, his stand up is ok but his ground game is a lot better. I have fighting Internationals, going after Khabib for a long time and going after McNuggets [Conor McGregor]. This is about as close as it gets right now, as soon as we get through this dude we'll get to Conor," Ferguson told ESPN.