EXCLUSIVE | Anthony Pettis believes he would have finished Tony Ferguson if he didn’t break his hand

All the hype surrounding UFC 229 was about Conor McGregor taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, the co-main event fight between Anthony Pettis and Tony Ferguson was also a highly touted affair.

It appeared the winner of Ferguson vs Pettis would be getting the next title shot against the winner of Nurmagomedov-McGregor. Ultimately, Ferguson defeated Pettis by corner stoppage after the second round. However, that had a lot to do with Pettis breaking his hand.

During the fight, Pettis was having success and even dropped Ferguson at one point. Now, looking back on the fight months later, Pettis believes he would have won the fight if his hand didn’t break.

“That fight was so close. If I hadn’t of broken my hand I would have finished that fight,” Pettis said to BJPENN.com. “If you watch the fight again, the second over hand right I turned it over like a dummy and it hit that one knuckle. I got him on the ground and he did a little front roll and then I couldn’t use my right hand. I was holding it against his shoulder and tried to throw it once and I’m like ‘oh this feels uncomfortable.’ That is why he got up is because I had no grip.”

If Pettis did indeed finish Ferguson the question remains of whether he would be getting the title shot or if he would still be moving up to welterweight to take on Stephen Thompson.That is a question Pettis isn’t too sure about.

“I don’t know. I know were my skill-set is at,” he said. “That fight I got five weeks notice. They called me five weeks out and said ‘hey you want to fight Ferguson.’ I’m like ‘hell yeah.’ Like I’m not afraid to fight anyone in that division. I feel like I gave the fans what they wanted but I couldn’t catch the break I needed. I was right there and my hand breaks.”

Ultimately, Pettis’ hand unfortunately did break. Now, the focus is on ‘Wonderboy’ and getting back in the win column. The training camp is well underway, and Pettis can’t look back now.

Do you agree with Anthony Pettis that he would have beat Ferguson if his hand doesn’t break?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/23/2019.