Tony Ferguson walked into UFC 229 still laying claim to the UFC Lightweight Championship after an injury forced him to vacate it earlier this year.
Ferguson, who did no standard physical therapy on a surgically repaired knee that was fixed six months ago, immediately limped after being kicked in his leg on Saturday night. He rebounded to take the first round in dominant fashion. Pettis dropped Ferguson in the second round, but got opened up bad in the process and had to be checked out. Pettis was deemed okay to fight.
After a violent second round, Pettis' coach Duke Roufus refused to send his fighter back out for the third, as he'd broken his hand. Ferguson, emotional after a rollercoaster year cried in the cage and called out Conor McGregor.
Ferguson became UFC Lightweight Champion last year, but a knee injury caused him to miss a planned fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and cost him his championship -- technically. Throughout the week, Ferguson still walked around with his title belt, and even made championship weight in the event Conor McGregor or Khabib Nurmagomedov missed weight.
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