PHOENIX – UFC president Dana White was impressed with Tony Ferguson despite his brutal knockout loss at UFC 274.
Ferguson (25-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) got off to a good start in his featured lightweight bout against Michael Chandler on Saturday at Footprint Center, dropping the former title challenger early. But just 17 seconds into Round 2, Ferguson was caught by a perfectly timed front kick that knocked him out cold.
The loss to Chandler (23-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC) marked Ferguson’s fourth straight, but White meant what he said when he previously claimed that Ferguson’s future with the company would not be in jeopardy if he lost at UFC 274.
“Everybody was asking me this week leading up to this fight: Is this a make or break for Tony Ferguson? And I said no,” White said during the UFC 274 post-fight news conference. “He’s still one of the top 10 guys in the world, and he looked damn good in that first round, but that was a vicious knockout.
“I think what needs to happen now is Tony needs to take some time off after that knockout, and I don’t know. But it’s not like, ‘Oh my God, Tony got dominated and looks like he doesn’t even belong here.’ Tony looked damn good right up until he got caught, and you know in this game anybody can get caught with anything.”
Ferguson was transported to a local hospital after the fight and released the same night after his CT scans came back negative. He released an encouraging statement late Sunday night, vowing that he’s far from being done despite his losing skid.
