A little more than 30 days before UFC 238, the promotion felt like the card needed some juice, so they called up a boogeyman and a cowboy do just that.
Donald Cerrone was in the midst of a career resurgence when he got the call to face former interim champion Tony Ferguson. After breaking the record for UFC wins and finishes late in 2018, “Cowboy” returned to the lightweight division in 2019 with his eye on a title run. First, he handed Alexander Hernandez a piece of humble pie in January before outclassing Al Iaquinta in a May main event. A win over Ferguson would grant Cerrone admission to the title picture at 155 pounds, but “El Cucuy” had other ideas.
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At the time, Ferguson was an unstoppable force and he rode an 11-fight win streak into Chicago. With his legendary cardio, pressure, chin and unorthodox approach, Ferguson not only beat any man in front of him, but often left his opponents looking like a mess. Such was the case in one of the best fights of 2018 when he beat Anthony Pettis at UFC 229, his first fight after suffering a knee injury which led to losing his interim title. A win over Cerrone, although it wasn’t the title fight he sought, represented another chance to assert himself as the best 155er in the world.
With a main event treatment, Cerrone and Ferguson delivered the all-action fight everyone wanted. Although Cerrone started strong, Ferguson’s steady diet of pressure, elbows and creativity wore on “Cowboy,” and at the end of the second round, all the momentum was in Ferguson’s corner. The fight ended prematurely, however, when a damaged Cerrone blew his nose, causing his right eye to swell dramatically. The doctor was forced to stop the fight much to the chagrin of everyone involved, but Ferguson collected his 12th straight win.
