Fans will get their money's worth in the main event. There is a time and a place for this.
When this week began, the dominant rising star was the opponent of the man who would be leaving the UFC.
On Saturday night, with Tony Ferguson as the opponent after a bizarre, unprecedented several days, he will leave the promotion as a winner, thanks to a guillotine choke submission in the fourth round.
The lore of one of the most popular fighters in MMA history continues with that.
In his postfight interview, he said he told them to give him anyone they wanted. The OG representative of mixed martial arts was a worthy one.
Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds on Friday, meaning he wouldn't be able to fight on Saturday. The opponent was too fat to fight. Chimaev is a dominant wrestler, so he only trained wrestling during this camp.
The UFC tried to save the pay-per-view card after Chimaev missed weight. UFC president Dana White and chief business officer Hunter Campbell worked for most of the day to change the fights. The fight will be a five-round bout.
This was the final fight on his UFC contract, and he has indicated that he won't be returning to the promotion. The Real Fight Inc., a combat sports promotion, was announced earlier this week.
"I want to get out of the UFC and show all these UFC fighters how to take over and own another sport and teach them how to do it," he said. He wasn't sure how to do it. None of the other fighters have the skills to do it. I'm going to be the best at that profession.
So after that?
"I'm going to get another UFC title here," he said.
The Performance of the Night bonus was earned byDiaz. He has 16 of those in his UFC career, which is tied for the second-most in history, behind only Donald Cerrone.
Ferguson was supposed to fight Li Jingliang but the fight was moved to Daniel Rodriguez. Chimaev defeated Kevin Holland in the main event.
At times, it was weird. The guys were clowning around. A man leans against a cage. Ferguson lay down on the mat without being asked. Both are veteran and fan favorites, both coming off the UFC's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter" as champion. The two embraced and bowed to one another.
Ferguson said that he kicked the man in the shin. There was a lot of fun. I had a good time there. It was a cool experience. It felt like I was in the right place. I had not felt that way in a while.
Ferguson said that he was invited to be a part of the camp and that he wouldn't say no to them.
Ferguson said those guys are cool. California is run by us.
Going into the fourth round, the judges had Diaz ahead by two points. Ferguson was up 29-28 by the judge.
A cult favorite who reached superstardom with an upset win over McGregor on short notice, he is known as the 'cult favorite'. He is 2-2 in his past four fights and nearly knocked out Leon Edwards in his previous fight.
"This is his house, no matter what he does from here on out," White stated. He has been here for a long time. It has been a pleasure having him here. I wish him good luck. The two of us had a discussion at the office. I wish him the best regardless of what he does.
Ferguson has lost five in a row, the most recent being a knockout loss to Michael Chandler. He is a former UFC lightweight champion. Ferguson has won 12 fights in a row, tying him for the UFC record.
When Chimaev missed weight and the UFC asked him to change opponents, he told executives they had to give him more money than they had given any of the champion in the organization. He said, "I want more than that, then."
The week was crazy with three fights changing. We are in a crazy business. It isn't as easy as it appears. A lot of guys want to get into the fight business, but want to be careful.
Despite all the chaos, Diaz is still the winner.
"I'm happy I did the job," he said. For sure, the mission has been completed.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
