Tony Ferguson has been beaten before, but never quite like that.
The experienced UFC lightweight fighter was knocked cold for the first time in his career when his UFC 274 opponent Michael Chandler landed a flush front kick to Ferguson chin early in the second round of their featured bout in Phoenix. Thankfully, he has since been cleared by medics but will now serve a 60 day medical suspension as a result of the fight — but opening up on it for the first time, he said that it was a ‘scary’ feeling have little memory of the incident.
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“I took a big kick to the dome this past Saturday inside that Octagon. It put me out for a long time,” Ferguson wrote on Instagram. “It was a scary feeling not remembering anything from beginning of second round all the way until I walked up to the ambulance. I thank God every day I made the trip back to reality.
“All jokes aside, I didn’t mean to scare you all, should have done things different like keep my ‘hands up and chin down’.”
Ferguson’s next move remains unclear. Dana White stated after the event that he expected the 38-year-old to take some time off after such a devastating KO but Ferguson says that that thankfully there is little residual damage from the fight.
“I’m beyond grateful my movements are OK, my bones are intact and except for a slight headache in the mornings I’m glad to be back and doing what I love,” he said “I want to be better than yesterday for sure, not for anyone else but for me.”
And as for the man who put him in this predicament, Ferguson said that Chandler should be proud of his efforts.
“My fault I lost, props to Chandler for the highlight-reel finish. I have many things to work on, not just competing,” he said in his post.
“One battle at a time. I’m not perfect by any means, but I’ll continue to strive for it in and out of the practice room (perfection: an unobtainable goal). Someone wise once told me ‘perfect practice makes perfect’. There’s always more to learn and being coachable is big. Making good adjustments daily, and will continue to do so.”
