It was the saddest April’s Fools joke that wasn’t. No one wanted to believe it, but it was true. Tony Ferguson had gotten injured out of UFC 223’s main event.
That main event of course originally being the highly anticipated showdown between him and fellow divisional staple, the now champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Unfortunately, in the final week before the fight was to take place, the then interim champion Ferguson would suffer a freak injury that took him out indefinitely.
With no solid time-table in place afterward, Ferguson has made an incredibly quick recovery that wasn’t expected to be before year’s end. But “El Cucuy” just might not be human.
Currently riding an ultra-impressive winning streak of 10 straight, Ferguson remains one of the very best among one of MMA’s most talent-rich divisions. But because of the injury, the division is starting to potentially pass The Ultimate Fighter season 13 winner by.
As Conor McGregor has officially been set to make his return in Ferguson’s original spot against Nurmagomedov for the undisputed crown, it leaves Ferguson still in a limbo.
That’s also without mentioning the continued rise of Dustin Poirier who many believe is as deserving as anyone for a 155-pound title shot. And he happens to be facing Nate Diaz next at UFC 230 which with a win could leapfrog him over everyone else in the top 10 for a title shot…including Ferguson.
The last time Ferguson was seen in action was when he won his interim title by defeating Kevin Lee at UFC 216 in October 2017. That win was just one of Ferguson’s seven finishes in his current streak of 10 (six submissions).
One of the very most exciting and unorthodox fighters in all of MMA, it will be fun to see how Ferguson fits back into the mix. But let’s just hope that he stays healthy and avoids any accidents…which judging by the video above, he doesn’t appear to be too worried about.
Former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson didn’t take long to notice Khabib Nurmagomedov’s declaration about the lone way he feels he’d lose to him.
