Deep Impact

Here’s the exact moment Michael Chandler’s front kick to the face landed on Tony Ferguson, resulting in another surreal photograph from UFC 274.

Michael Chandler picked up a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus thanks to his massive second round knockout of Tony Ferguson at UFC 274 last night (Sat., May 22, 2022) inside Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. It wasn’t just the biggest knockout of the night, it may be the biggest of the year. Not only did his impromptu front kick to the face flatten Ferguson, the moment of impact was captured on film … and it is crazy to look at.

Chandler’s brutal stoppage of Ferguson looks similar to Marlon Vera’s knockout of Frankie Edgar from UFC 268, which resulted in a similarly disfigured image of Edgar’s face as Vera’s foot made contact.

Before we go any further, let’s clarify that Ferguson was taken to the hospital following this knockout and released with a negative CT scan, meaning there’s no sign of brain damage from the knockout.

Meanwhile, Conor McGregor was watching UFC 274 and couldn’t resist commenting about the image, declaring in since-deleted Tweets that, “Tony had some great nuggets in the media build up. Then he got punt kicked to the chin and got turned into a nugget himself. That’s crazy.”

“If you pulled that out of a McDonald’s bag you’d dip it in sauce and eat without a moments thought,” he added in another Tweet. “No doubt. That would pass as a legit McDonalds chicken nugget.”

This is the first time in Ferguson’s career that he’s been knocked out cold. While “El Cucuy” has seven losses on his record, only one other was a stoppage via strikes: against Justin Gaethje, which saw the referee step in and end the fight while Ferguson was still standing.

For complete UFC 274: “Oliveira vs. Gaethje” results and play-by-play, click HERE.