bingewatches

After impressing in his UFC debut with a first-round knockout of Dan Hooker, Michael Chandler was in real danger of seeing his UFC career landslide into three-straight losses. Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, at UFC 274, Tony Ferguson had Chandler on the ropes in the first round, hunting him around the cage and peppering him and landing just about everything he threw.

But seconds into the second round, it was a perfectly-timed front kick that caught Ferguson underneath his chin and sent the lightweight contender to sleep.

Chandler entered UFC 274 following consecutive losses to Charles Oliveira by TKO and Justin Gaethje via decision in May and November last year, respectively. Ferguson is now winless in his last four fights, with losses to Gaethje, Oliveira, Beneil Dariush and now Chandler.

Following the victory, Chandler made it known he wants to run it back with Oliveira or Gaethje should he earn another shot at lightweight gold. If the title isn’t in his immediate future, Chandler welcomed Conor McGregor back into the Octagon, who has been out with a broken leg suffered in the first round of his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 last July.

Entering the showdown Saturday night already at No. 7 in the lightweight division, Ferguson has a long ways to go to find his way back into title contention.