By Appearing in his first fight since an alleged DUI in which he flipped his truck, UFC Lightweight Tony Ferguson’s UFC 291 pre-fight press conference included a perfect opportunity to clip a traffic-driving screenshot and post a misleadingly vague headline. Responding to a follow-up question after his answer to an opening inquiry about the arrest for some reason included a discussion of bear tracking, Ferguson backed up his claim by pulling out a small knife from his pocket and placing it on the table in front of him.
The clippable moment has been a real boon to MMA media, providing an effective and captivating way to frame the interview without the need to touch on any tricky issues like Ferguson’s evasion of responsibility, rambling responses and delusional ranting. While the performance might otherwise have raised questions about the continued combative employment of a man on a five fight losing streak who last won in 2019 and hasn’t recorded multiple wins in a year since 2016 while simultaneously showing a pattern of decreasing durability and increasingly erratic behavior and words, by deftly sidestepping them and misleadingly implying a man many fans worry about the mental health of had a truly horrific and scary breakdown instead we remain free to be naively excited about the fight right up until it starts.
