El Cucuy Vs. Iron

UFC 274 is filled with amazing fights but one that catches my eye the most is the Michael Chandler vs. Tony Ferguson. This fight has a lot of weight to it. Both fighters are still in the top 10 of the lightweight division which is considered by many the toughest division and most stacked division. Even though Chandler is ranked #5 and Ferguson is ranked #7 in one of the hardest divisions they both have seen better days. They are both getting up there in age Ferguson is 38 and Chandler is 36 for a MMA career that usually considers passing their primes. Also both fighters are coming off losses. Ferguson is coming off three losses but the loss that started it all was when he fought Justin Gaethje and it was very brutal to watch Ferguson take a nasty beating that had to be called off because he couldn’t take any more damage. After that he lost two more times and was completely dominated from round to round. I believe if he takes another brutal loss it will be the end of his career. On the other hand Chandler is also coming off two losses but both of those losses he showed some moments of greatness. He fought Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title but came up short but still knocked down Oliveira in the first round. Chandler almost finished Oliveira but didn’t and ended up getting finished in the second round. Chandler’s last bout was against Gaethje which was a three round war of just back and forth chaos. Even though he lost he still wobbled Gaethje and hurt him pretty badly. In that fight I believe if Chandler would have approached the fight differently he would have won but instead using his wrestling he just had a dog fight with Gaethje. Even though Chandler and Ferguson are both coming off losses I think Ferguson has a lot more to lose.

I believe that Chandler is more explosive, hits harder, and is faster than Ferguson. Chandler is overall the better athlete. Chandler’s wrestling is also more dominant than Fergusons. However, Ferguson is like a magician and can pull weird things out of his hat. He’s going to be looking for that counter elbow when Chandler is trying to close the distance or go for a takedown. The way Ferguson throws elbows is in a very obscure way, he’ll throw an elbow trying to slice his opponents up instead of always trying to knock out his opponents. So if he can open up a cut on Chandler and have blood rushing down it’ll be easier for Ferguson to slip out of takedowns and submissions. Ferguson’s jiu-jitsu is very excellent and will be throwing up triangles and other submissions if he ends up on his back. I think this fight is going to be a war and very violent. I don’t think it’ll go to a decision. It will be either Chandler with a highlight TKO or Ferguson choking out Chandler. This fight has a lot of weight on it and will determine the future of both fighters and their careers moving forward.