In 36 professional fights, only one man can lay claim to knocking Tony Ferguson out cold: Michael Chandler.
Prior to a standing TKO loss to Justin Gaethje in 2020, Ferguson was one of the most feared fighters in the UFC. The former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion went on a stellar 12-fight win streak from 2013 to 2019, beating contender after contender until the competition started catching up to him.
Gaethje was among the first to figure out Ferguson – then came Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush and in 2022, former three-time Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler.
At UFC 274, we saw glimpses of the prime Tony Ferguson, who went on to win the interim title in 2017. Alas, it wasn’t enough to stop a durable Chandler.
Ferguson found a home for his left hand early on, sitting down Chandler with a punch a minute in.
Ferguson stalked Chandler against the cage, tagging him with a few punches as Chandler recovered, find his rhythm again.
Chandler took down Ferguson midway into the round. Chandler controlled from top position but ate cutting elbows from Ferguson on the ground. Chandler sustained a cut under his right eye.
The Ferguson of old was back, but only for a moment.
The second round was all Chandler.
Michael Chandler came back with ferocious front kick KO
14 seconds into round 2, Chandler threw a hellacious front kick at the face of Ferguson, putting the former interim champion face-down to the canvas. Right on target.
The KO looked like one of King Leonidas’ iconic scenes from the ‘300’ movie.
As the doctors rushed to check in on Ferguson, the ecstatic Chandler celebrated with four backflips from the Footprint Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. In the crowd was his upcoming UFC 314 opponent Paddy Pimblett with his hands over his mouth, in shock of what just happened.
Ferguson was out cold for several minutes and later hospitalized following his fourth-straight defeat.
This was Michael Chandler’s most recent win. The 38-year-old UFC lightweight contender looks to bounce back from two losses to Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira with a victory over Pimblett on Apr. 12.
