Tony Ferguson wasn’t always the scariest fighter in the UFC lightweight division. Heck, at one point, he seemed like he was going to get lost in the merciless lightweight shuffle.
After winning the generally forgettable The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 by defeating Ramsey Nijem, and taking two more wins over steely veterans Yves Edwards and Aaron Riley, he suffered a big setback when he lost to Michael Johnson at UFC on Fox 3. Then came an even bigger career setback, where he just plain disappeared for 18 months.
What happened during that time is a mystery, but while he entered that tunnel as a midcarder-for-life, he exited one of the hottest fighters at 155 pounds. He returned by submitting Mike Rio, then put a hurting on Katsunori Kikuno. One by one, he pushed his way up the rankings, knocking off veteran name after veteran name. Eventually, he broke into the top 10 and not long after, he was ringing the top-five doorbell.
Ferguson rode that wave of success into Saturday night’s fight with Edson Barboza. While the Brazilian remains a deadly striker, he wound up being no match for El Cucuy.
The first round saw Ferguson showing an almost insane lack of respect for Barboza‘s power, standing in the pocket and swapping blows with him. Ferguson would eat more than a few kicks to the body and leg, but weathered that storm without incident.
The second round, though, would be all Ferguson. After several grappling exchanges, Ferguson sliced open Barboza with an elbow while receiving an ugly wound of his own. By the midway point of the second round, both men were coated in blood, but Barboza was getting away from his muay thai base, and attempting to grapple with Ferguson.
That would prove to be his undoing, as Ferguson knotted up a tight D‘Arce choke after a sprawl that forced the tap. The win was yet another highlight-reel performance. Depending on how things shake out next week at UFC on Fox 18, big things could be just over the horizon for him.
Here are some notes and thoughts on the bout:
- Ferguson is so, so good at MMA. A couple of years ago, he was completely forgotten about and was dismissed as the best of a bad TUF13 bunch. Fast-forward to today, and he is one of the most dynamic, entertaining and deadly fighters in the lightweight division.
- There is a real chance that Ferguson gets the next shot at the lightweight title. Khabib Nurmagomedov remains out indefinitely. Anthony Pettis is gone. Eddie Alvarez is still reeling from his loss to Cerrone. Ferguson is basically the last man standing on top of being 100 percent deserving of a crack at gold.
- It’s getting harder and harder to rationalize people labeling Barboza a top-10 fighter. Barboza is a muay thai specialist with absurd power, but that doesn’t actually cut it at the top of the lightweight division. That was on full display here, and while he’s an excellent gatekeeper for the lightweight top 10, that’s just about all he is.
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