UFC 249 Results: Stats And Video Highlights Tony Ferguson Vs Justin Gaethje

The headlining bout of last night’s UFC 249 pay-per-view card featured Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje in a battle for the interim UFC lightweight title.

Ferguson opened the fight with his funky footwork and movement. Gaethje, as expected, wanted to slow Ferguson with low kicks. Gaethje landed a nice left hook two minutes into the round, but the always tough Ferguson ate the blow without much difficulty. Gaethje’s heavy strikes were finding their mark throughout the first stanza. 

Gaethje landed some incredibly hard punches in the second round, but Ferguson ate them. However, the punches got Ferguson’s respect and prevented him from doing much countering, but Ferguson did keep moving. As the round wore on, Ferguson began to avoid some of the bigger strikes from his opponent, but he still ate more than he should have. At the very end of the round, Ferguson scored with a perfect uppercut that dropped Gaethje at the horn.

Between the second and third round, Gaethje’s coach told him to take 10 percent off his punches in the hopes of preserving some energy.

Ferguson’s eyes were both swollen and bleeding in the early going of the third round. Gaethje hurt Ferguson pretty badly with less than three minutes left in that stanza, but Ferguson was able to recover. However Ferguson was wearing the damage. With less than 30 seconds left in the round, Ferguson ate a kick and a punch that staggered him, but he stayed on his feet.

Ferguson started the fourth round with some strange motion, but Gaethje stayed focused and kept landing his heavy strikes. With 2:30 left in the round, Ferguson was clearly in trouble. Gaethje landed a head strike and Ferguson’s damaged legs struggled to hold him up as he briefly disengaged from his opponent.

Heading into the fifth round, Gaethje was confident and relaxed, but his coach, Trevor Wittman, reminded him that he needed to stay focused and not get cocky as that had cost him two previous fights. Gaethje agreed and then went out and kept sticking it to Ferguson, whose 12-fight winning streak was in a lot of danger of ending.

Gaethje hurt Ferguson badly with two minutes left in the round. He did not rush in for the finish. He remained calm and just kept racking up points via damage. As the clock wore down, Ferguson was a bloody mess and after he ate some heavy strikes and shook his head in an odd way, referee Herb Dean waved off the fight.

Ferguson did not like the stoppage, but the reality was that most other fighters would have seen that type of fight stopped much earlier. With the win, Gaethje should earn a title unification bout against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

UFC 249 took place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view.