Tony Ferguson has received words of encouragement from several notable names within the mixed martial arts (MMA) community following his horrific second round knockout loss to Michael Chandler at UFC 274 this past weekend (Sat., May 7, 2022) (watch highlights).
One of which came much earlier than the rest.
Immediately upon exiting the Octagon, Ferguson was met with a hug from UFC Hall of Famer and former Light Heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell. The video of the moment can be seen in the embedded player above.
“You had him,” Liddell said as he hugged Ferguson. “You still showed heart. Come out to my house, we’ll go have a cold one. We’ll go. Promise. I love him.”
Unfortunately, Liddell himself is no stranger to being on the receiving end of a brutal knockout. Closing out his career in UFC as one of the most feared and beloved knockout artists of all time, Liddell suffered tough back-to-back-to-back defeats against the likes of Rashad Evans, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and lastly, Rich Franklin.
Similar to Ferguson in his first round against Chandler, Liddell, too, was winning against Franklin up until the point he got caught with five seconds remaining before the next round. The June 2010 bout would lead to “The Iceman’s” retirement from the sport. That was until Oscar De La Hoya presented Liddell with a 2018 trilogy fight against Tito Ortiz and, well, a fourth consecutive knockout loss was added to the skid (watch highlights).
For Ferguson, the Chandler fight extended his current skid to four as well and it remains to be seen where the fan-favorite goes from here.
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