“El Cucuy” is not done rewriting his story. Not even close.
At 42, with the scars of an eight-fight losing skid in the UFC still fresh in the memory of fight fans, Tony Ferguson is heading back under the lights again. This time, he returns as a defending champion, putting his Misfits Middleweight title on the line against former soccer defender Kenzo Biyong on Sept. 26, 2026, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
The bout, a five-round headliner announced by Misfits Boxing over the weekend, will stream live on DAZN and adds another layer of intrigue to a card already built on combat-sports crossovers.
From eight straight losses to a new kind of streak
Ferguson’s late-career pivot has been as unlikely as it has been compelling. After leaving the UFC on the back of that brutal eight-fight skid, the former interim Lightweight champion looked finished at the elite level. Instead, he walked into the Misfits circus and found a second act.
In August 2025, he snapped nearly six years without a win, stopping influencer Salt Papi in the third round of his Misfits debut. It wasn’t vintage Ferguson, but it was violent, decisive, and cathartic. A fighter long associated with chaos finally had momentum again.
He built on it four months later. Against Warren Spencer, Ferguson scored a knockdown and then outworked him over the distance, earning a unanimous decision and the vacant Misfits Middleweight belt. Two fights, two wins, and suddenly the man who couldn’t buy a victory in the UFC had a title wrapped around his waist in a different world entirely.
Now 2-0 as a boxer, he walks into Miami as the champion, defending that belt for the first time.
A detour on the mat, a return to the ring
The road back to the ring hasn’t been smooth. Ferguson briefly left the gloves behind in June, stepping onto the wrestling mat at Real American Freestyle (RAF) 10. It did not go his way. UFC Lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan ran through him, scoring a 10-0 technical fall.
It was a harsh reminder of the gap between a specialist in his prime and a veteran chasing competition wherever he can find it. But it also underlined something else: Ferguson still craves the fight, in any form.
Now he’s back where this reinvention began—under boxing rules, under Misfits lights, with a belt to protect.
From European backlines to Misfits boxing: Biyong’s leap
Across from him in Miami will be Kenzo Biyong, a 28-year-old Dutch athlete with one of the more unusual résumés on the card.
Biyong grew up in football, playing as a defender for several European youth and developmental teams. He walked away from the sport, traded studs for mats, and moved into wrestling and submission grappling. That path took him into the grappling branch of the UFC machine.
In April, he made his UFC BJJ debut at UFC BJJ 7, only to be quickly submitted by Raphael Ferreira via rear-naked choke in the first round. Now he’s ripping up the script again, stepping into professional boxing for the first time—and doing it against a former UFC interim champion who has already proven he can adapt to this scene.
It’s a bold choice. Or a reckless one. On Sept. 26, everyone finds out which.
A card built on crossover chaos
Ferguson vs. Biyong is only one piece of a stacked, strange, and undeniably watchable Misfits offering.
Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo will box Deen the Great, a collision between Olympic gold and influencer stardom that fits perfectly in Misfits’ hybrid universe. Misfits Heavyweight champion Chase DeMoor is also scheduled to defend his title against Plinio Cruz, better known to MMA fans as Alex Pereira’s head coach.
The event leans hard into what Misfits has become: a playground where combat sports credentials, social media clout, and sheer audacity all share top billing.
Amid all that noise, Ferguson stands out for a different reason. He isn’t chasing a debut or a novelty cameo. He’s chasing something closer to redemption, one three-minute round at a time.
On Sept. 26 in Miami, a 42-year-old former UFC star and a 28-year-old ex-footballer will meet in the middle of a boxing ring, each trying to prove that their new life in combat sports is more than a side quest. Only one of them walks out with a belt—and with a future in this strange new lane secured.
