When Michael Chandler fights, it’s a safe bet that someone is getting knocked out. Sometimes it’s Chandler. Sometimes, it’s the other guy.
On Saturday night, it was the other guy.
In the early moments of the second round of his lightweight bout against Tony Ferguson at UFC 274, Chandler annihilated Ferguson with what will likely be regarded as the most devastating front kick ever seen in the Octagon.
Ferguson remained on the ground for an uncomfortably long time before eventually being helped to a chair, still not looking like he knew where he was or what had happened.
For Chandler, the win comes after a hard-fought loss to former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira a Fight of the Year performance that ended in defeat against fellow lightweight Justin Gaethje.
Ferguson dropped Chandler early in the first round and had the former Missouri wrestling star scrambling to recover. However, as Chandler told UFC commentator after the fight, “God came through” in the end.
“We don’t really train that much, it just happened,” said Chandler. “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.”