TONY FERGUSON WAS crowned interim UFC lightweight champion last night after submitting Kevin Lee at 4:02 with a triangle choke, potentially setting up a lucrative clash with Conor McGregor later this year.
After enduring a harsh weight cut earlier in the week which saw him miss the cutoff at the first attempt, Lee seemed for large periods to be in the ascendancy on the scorecards.
He got the better of the opening round before an even second round saw Ferguson succeed in persistently landing strikes from difficult angles.
The third saw the 33-year-old execute a takedown which Ferguson then turned into an armbar. This before Lee escaped only to suffer a succession of elbows which led into a winning arm triangle.
It was Ferguson’s 10th straight win, which significantly could set up a potential clash with Conor McGregor at UFC 2019 at the end of December, with Dana White admitting that the clash “has to happen.”
“Nobody’s talked about Diaz – Diaz has never been talked about,” he said on Saturday night.
“That’s internet bullshit. Tony’s the interim champion, Conor’s the champion. It’s the fight that makes sense.
“It’s the fight that has to happen – it doesn’t ‘make sense,’ it’s the fight that has to happen.”
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