With a third-round submission loss against Bobby Green on the main night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Tony Ferguson’s problems at UFC 291 persisted.
At the beginning of the bout, Ferguson appeared to be in good shape. He repeatedly punched Green from the outside, even managing to knock Green to the ground at one point. Green poked his eye inadvertently, which somewhat stopped the momentum.
Ferguson was allowed some time to recuperate in a close round before Green began to strike.
Green won round 2 with considerably more of a resounding victory. Early on, Ferguson attempted a takedown, but it was unsuccessful, leaving Green on top. He was able to cause a lot of harm with his ground-and-pound from there.
Ferguson managed to get to his feet, but he struggled there as well. Despite this, he was able to end the round strongly with a couple of combinations.
In the third round, Green continued to tag Ferguson at will. He had the option of taking the win on autopilot, but instead, he forced Ferguson to submit with an arm-triangle choke.
The former temporary champion’s losing streak now stands at six matches. Since Donald Cerrone was stopped by doctors in the second round in June 2019, he has not triumphed in a bout.
The majority of those defeats were suffered in fierce competition. The losing streak began with a defeat to Justin Gaethje in a match for the interim title, and it was then prolonged by defeats to Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, and Nate Diaz.
All of the competitors have either competed for UFC belts or have high rankings. Green is a definite step down from the competitors and has recently faced difficulties of his own. In his last seven fights, he had a record of 2-4 and one No Contest.
The 39-year-old should consider retiring after his defeat against Green, even though it was not his initial thought before the battle. Before the defeat, El Cucuy outlined his strategy to fight five more times to qualify for a title chance.
“I want five fights and then a title,” he said, per Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com. “It’s got to be five of the right fights, finish the right way with all the fixings, just like a nice little steak that you’re throwing on the grill with the sweet potato pie and everything else that goes with it. The sweeter that each fight gets, the closer I’m going to get to that title.”
After losing to Green, it is reasonable to conclude that Ferguson’s chances of ever competing again at lightweight are as remote as they have ever been.
