May 08, (THEWILL) – With a spectacular knockout of Tony Ferguson at UFC 274, Michael Chandler re-entered the lightweight title picture after delivering what commentators called the Kick of the Year.
Chandler was defeated by Charles Oliveira in a vacant title fight last year before losing a back-and-forth battle with Justin Gaethje later in the year. But he came back strong to hand Ferguson his fourth consecutive loss.
In the first minute, Ferguson floored Chandler with a slick one-two, but the former title challenger rebounded to land his own left hook. Chandler then took the fight to the ground with a double-leg takedown, but was cut badly by Ferguson’s elbows from the bottom position.
Chandler concluded the show in spectacular fashion seconds into the second round with a vicious front kick to the face that knocked Ferguson out cold. Chandler celebrated after he was lifted to his feet.
In his post-match comments, Chandler said: “We don’t really train that much, it just happened. He’s so long but he does keep his hands out on the side so there is a lane up the middle. We were going to go fake shot-uppercut a lot too but it turns out he was tagging me in the first round.
“What the fans at home will never, ever feel is when you’re down and you have a round like I just did – it wasn’t that decisive and Tony Ferguson showed up – you’ve got to pull something from inside of you. God came through and here we are.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
