Conor McGregor encourages Tony Ferguson to ‘come back stronger than ever’

Once potential rivals, Tony Ferguson has Conor McGregor’s full support during his difficult time.

Ferguson’s wife filed for a temporary restraining order against the former UFC interim lightweight champion earlier this week, alleging domestic violence. According to incident reports from the Santa Ana (Calif.) Police Department, several domestic disturbances at the Fergusons’ home have been reported since early 2018.

On Feb. 19, Ferguson allegedly tore apart their home, per the incident reports. He thought there was a computer chip in his leg, and also believed someone was in the walls at his home.

Ferguson has not been charged with a crime, nor have any arrests been made. His wife Cristina said in a statement issued via her attorney Jeffrey L. Heath that Ferguson is “a good husband and good father to our son.”

Cristina said in the statement the restraining order is “part of a process to ensure that Tony will receive the help necessary to continue being the best possible.”

McGregor wrote in a tweet early Saturday morning that if anyone can bounce back from something like this, it’s “El Cucuy.”

“Tony Ferguson is the type of guy that when all the chips are down, can pick them right back up again and come back stronger than ever!” McGregor wrote. “Came back from a debilitating injury in record time to give us one of the fights of the year!

“Let’s go Tony!!”

Ferguson won the interim lightweight title at UFC 216 in October 2017, two months after then-lightweight champion McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. At the time, McGregor hadn’t competed in MMA since November 2016. After the victory, McGregor vs. Ferguson made sense sense, but the bout never came to fruition.

Instead, McGregor would get stripped of the title last April ahead of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s vacant title win over Al Iaquinta. Nurmagomedov was expected to fight Ferguson, but Ferguson fell out of the highly-anticipated contest the week before the fight due to an injury — which McGregor alluded to in his tweet.

McGregor fought Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 last October, but fell via submission. Ferguson also fought on the card, defeating Anthony Pettis via decision. That was Ferguson’s first fight since he won the interim title one year earlier.

McGregor was recently arrested for allegedly smashing and stealing someone’s cellphone in Miami. The Irishman is now facing a civil lawsuit.