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          UFC 256 expert picks: How will Tony Ferguson look in his return? Coaches, fighters split

          • Marc RaimondiDec 10, 2020, 06:05 PM
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              Marc Raimondi's first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn't his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a top combat sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book "Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling's New World Order Changed America," which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Raimondi also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, beginning in 2009, covering high school and college sports, plus the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.
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          Tony Ferguson was on a 12-fight winning streak and scheduled to face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight championship. For Ferguson, the April title bout could have been a crowning achievement many years in the making. But the coronavirus pandemic changed everything. Nurmagomedov was unable to leave Russia and return to the U.S. to fight, so the bout was canceled.