Anthony Armand Ferguson Padilla[7] (born February 12, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist.

[12][13] Ferguson was a three-sport athlete at Muskegon Catholic Central High School in American football, baseball, and wrestling.

[6] Following college, Ferguson moved back to California to be closer to his extended family, working in marketing and sales during the day and picking up shifts as a bartender at night.

One night, while working a bar shift, a patron noticed Ferguson's cauliflower ear and struck up a conversation about his wrestling background.

The patron was a trainer at a local MMA gym and invited him to work with some young mixed martial artists on their wrestling.

Ferguson began his professional MMA career fighting in small organizations around California in 2007. Notable matches in his early career include a win over kickboxing champion Joe Schilling and a loss to future World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) fighter Karen Darabedyan.

[14] Ferguson applied to compete in the UFC's reality series The Ultimate Fighter multiple times.

In 2010, he was finally accepted to compete in season 13 of the series after amassing a 10–2 professional record and winning the welterweight championship in PureCombat.

[48] Chiesa pulled out of the fight on June 27, citing injury, and was replaced by promotional newcomer Lando Vannata.

[51][52] Ferguson fought former champion Rafael dos Anjos on November 5, 2016, at the Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale.

[56] Prior to the weigh-ins for the event, Nurmagomedov was hospitalized due to the ill effects of his weight cut, and the bout was cancelled yet again.

[60] On April 1, 2018, Ferguson reportedly tore his fibular collateral ligament while walking on the set for a pre-fight media obligation and was forced to withdraw from the event.

Pettis' longtime cornerman and coach, Duke Roufus, informed the referee that he would not continue after suffering a broken hand.

[66] He won the fight via TKO due to a doctor stoppage after Cerrone blew his nose between rounds 2 & 3 which caused his swollen right eye to completely close, rendering him unable to continue.

[69] Ferguson then agreed to compete for the Interim UFC Lightweight Championship against a late replacement in Justin Gaethje at the event.

[70] On April 9, UFC president Dana White announced that this event was postponed[71] and the bout eventually took place on May 9, 2020.

[80] Ferguson was scheduled to return to the welterweight division to face Li Jingliang on September 10, 2022, in the co-main event of UFC 279.

[81] However, Ferguson instead moved up to the main event to face Nate Diaz, after his original opponent Khamzat Chimaev was pulled from their fight due to missing weight.

[90] On January 24, 2025, it was announced that Ferguson had parted ways with the UFC and signed with the Global Fight League.

[93] In March 2019, Cristina filed a restraining order against Tony, alleging uncharacteristic behavior such as severe paranoia, not sleeping for days, tearing apart their home fireplace, and believing that a tracking chip was inserted into his leg during reconstructive knee surgery.

[99] He constructed his own custom training apparatus at his house in Big Bear Lake, California and regularly posts videos of his unique workouts on his personal Instagram page.

These include using a Wing Chun dummy[100] smacking his arms and legs against metal poles to build bone strength, throwing baseballs off a pitcher's mound to build power for right-hand punches, swinging a hammer while balanced on a gym ball, and somersault jumps over tall stacks of gym mats.

[103] Ferguson has written on his Twitter account that he eschews sparring in training as he "finds it limits my creativity" when fighting.