It will be interesting to see who he is matched up with in his next fight. If it is a top 5 guy, Tony is done. He is one of the toughest fighters who seems to never tire but he seems to have lost some of his explosiveness that he relied on earlier in his career. If he gets matched up with a younger fighter, serving as a gatekeeper, we could definitely see a vintage El Cucuy performance and maybe he is able to rejuvenate his career.
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This could go two ways. Dana White is known for using washed up fighters with a still big name in order to propel lower level guys into the limelight. He did this with Johny Hendricks and Anderson Silva. Tony already lost (just this past week) to a guy barely in the top 10. I think his next fight will be with someone even lower, perhaps even unranked. Tony better win that one!
Or it could be a complete turnaround for El Cucuy, which I think is far less likely. The division that he is in is quite possibly the most talented and not a great place to be if you are fading.
You are correct about his loss of quickness but I feel his greater deficiency is that he seems to be almost helpless on the ground. If his camp has any sense at all, they will be focusing exclusively on his ground game from now until his next fight.
Dana definitely likes to set those up! Ultimately I believe that Beniel was able to dominate Tony was that he is technically sound everywhere. If Tony is matched up against someone similar he is in trouble. Tony’s best bet is an overhyped prospect with a hole in his game that he is able to exploit.