The best and worst from UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor

#2 Best: Ferguson vs. Pettis – the Fight of the Year?

Tony Ferguson's wild brawl with Anthony Pettis might be the best fight of 2018

When the wild fight between Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis was all said and done, the first thought in my mind was that we’d just seen the Fight of the Year for 2018.

I might be forgetting something better earlier in the year but this fight was absolutely phenomenal, swinging back-and-forth and finally ending after the second round with Ferguson picking up his 11th straight win.

The fight began with Ferguson putting an unbelievable amount of pressure on Pettis with his striking, backing the former champion up and proving himself equally creative as ‘Showtime’ on the feet. If ‘El Cucuy’ had any cage rust, he certainly wasn’t showing it. But you always got the feeling that Pettis wasn’t out of the fight.

That feeling came home to roost in the second round when Pettis leveled Ferguson with a right hand and appeared to have him on the verge of being knocked out. How ‘El Cucuy’ survived the barrage is anyone’s guess.

But he did, and by the end of the second round – with both men pouring with blood – it was Ferguson once again on top as he destroyed Pettis with strikes, slicing him open with his elbows around both eyes.

We didn’t get a third round – Pettis’s cornerman Duke Roufus decided to throw the towel in after learning Pettis was badly hurt and had broken his right hand, a surprisingly smart and brave decision from a UFC corner – but it didn’t matter. This was a fight for the ages that should see the stock of both men rise.

Ferguson called for a title shot post-fight in a sweary promo largely censored in the UK, and really, he’s more than earned it.

Whether he gets it given the mess that the main event created is anyone’s guess, but right now he might be the only man capable of giving Khabib Nurmagomedov a tough fight. He’s simply awesome.