Mr. Ferguson may prefer the boxing ring to the UFC octagon IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Tony Ferguson Wins Misfits Boxing Title In Dubai Slugfest

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Joseph Hammond | Last updated Dec 22, 2025 8:24 AM ET

It’s official. Tony Ferguson is now the Misfits middleweight champion of the world. Ferguson won the Misfits Mania in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a victory over reality star Warren Spencer(49-45, 49-45, 48-46).

Ferguson, 42, won the “interim” Misfits Boxing Middleweight Championship against Filipino-British influencer Nathaniel "Salt Papi" Bustamante earlier this year with a third-round stoppage.

He almost improved on that result, dropping Spencer in the second round, but Spencer was game for the fight and pressed on. In the final round, his tooth was even knocked out in a scene that appeared more MMA than boxing.

“El Cucuy” means the boogeyman in Spanish, and so far, Ferguson has been an absolute menace to his Misfits opponents, knocking one out and knocking the tooth out of another.

IMAGO / Cover-Images

Spencer goes by the ring moniker “The Mechanic," and he may have been hoping to fix his 2025 against Ferguson. He snapped back into the win column a couple of weeks ago at FCS 2 with a second-round knockout of Sladan Janjanin, bouncing back from an exhibition MMA submission loss to Dillon Danis.

Ferguson may wish he had tried boxing sooner

This year has changed Ferguson's fortunes for the better. He had four years without a single victory, and broke BJ Penn's record for most consecutive UFC losses after losing eight straight fights. He joined Misfits boxing in January, looking for a new start, and never looked back.

He is now 2-0 fighting with the bigger gloves, his first winning streak since 2019.

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Other bignames in boxing from Oxnard

Ferguson is from Oxnard, CA, a city with a strong boxing tradition that produced great fighters like Fernando Vargas, Robert Garcia, and Mikey Garcia. Emiliano Vargas, the son of Fernando Vargas, is also following in that tradition.

Ferguson trained in boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, and Wing Chun. In the UFC, he once held the UFC interim lightweight title.

Spencer is a friend of Andrew Tate. Ferguson’s bout was in support of the Misfit heavyweight title fight between Andrew Tate, the controversial influencer, and Netflix reality star and sometime professional football player Chase DeMoor.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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