UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson was on the wrong side of a highlight-reel finish when Michael Chandler kicked him in the face at UFC 274. In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Ferguson gave props to Chandler for using “his move” as the finishing blow.
“He had one or two shots get in there, but he didn’t like the elbows. I got head-butted a couple of times, which was cool, because it’s a fight, that’s what you do. The ref said what he had to do, and I was trying to kick off the cage, and he was like, ‘Get your fingers out of the cage.’ It was a great battle between two athletes that are at the top tier of the game.
Tony Ferguson Says Michael Chandler Stole His Moves
I just remember not putting pressure, and me trying to figure that out. I have to go back to listen to the commentary and the audio from the corner, but my wrestling coach said something about pressure, and I don’t know, it was just completely different. God told me I wasn’t ready, pretty much.
There’s a lot, obviously, that I can go back and try to fix,” he said. “But props to Michael Chandler for using my f****** move to knock me out. That s*** don’t happen every day.”
Tony Ferguson is now riding a four-fight losing streak. Ferguson’s chaotic, unpredictable fighting style has made him a fan favorite, but he needs to address this skid as soon as possible. Ferguson says he’ll use the 60-day suspension following his knockout loss to train, recover, and come back better than ever before.
“There’s a lot of mistakes that I can fix, and if I didn’t feel that I had the energy or the will or the want to be able to do it, I would have retired [at] the first drop.
Chandler didn’t have an answer too much for anything that I was throwing in that first round, man. So I’m going to be real with you, I’m hungry again. I’m taking it slow. I’ve got a 60-day [mandatory] vacation, which is pretty cool, and we’re going to take it from there.
I don’t really need to have [sparring], but I want to have that. The want and the will is there to hit people again and to get hit and not feel bad about hurting people again, because it sucks. You can ask Rose Namajunas.
I guarantee you she doesn’t like hurting people. And it’s kind of crazy, because we’re in the hurt game, but when you get to this high level and you have a soft heart for a lot of people, it’s hard to go in there and make this stuff happen.”
Can Tony Ferguson bounce back from this skid? Let us know in the comments.
