Tony Ferguson finally snapped the streak.
The future UFC Hall of Famer and former interim lightweight champion earned his first combat sports win since 2019 on Saturday at Misfits Boxing 22, stopping Nathaniel “Salt Papi” Bustamante with a come-from-behind third-round TKO in a major betting upset at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
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With the victory, Ferguson, 41, captures the Misfits Boxing interim middleweight championship.
“One win changes everything,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson (25-11 MMA, 1-0 boxing) had fallen on hard times in recent years. Once of the most dominant lightweights in MMA, Ferguson rose to prominence on the back of a record-breaking 12-fight win streak in the UFC from 2013-19, which included a 2017 stoppage of Kevin Lee to capture the interim lightweight title while then-champ Conor McGregor left MMA to indulge in his side quest to box Floyd Mayweather. But Ferguson’s memorable run finally came to an end against Justin Gaethje in 2020 — a result that started an eight-fight UFC losing skid for Ferguson that ultimately led to his departure from the promotion.
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Ferguson was expected to make his first appearance in his post-UFC life in an MMA bout against Dillon Danis for the ill-fated Global Fight League (GFL), however following the collapse of the GFL, he pivoted to making his professional boxing debut against Misfits veteran Bustamante (6-3, 5 KOs).
Bustamante, 31, looked like the more comfortable fighter early on Saturday, picking apart the UFC veteran with left hands from the outside and catching Ferguson with glancing power shots and slick counter-punching. But Ferguson gradually found his rhythm in the ring, tightening up the contest with a more competitive second round before dialing up his aggression in the third and smothering Bustamante with popping right hands and heavy pressure in the corners.
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The fight-ending sequence arrived with 20 seconds left on the clock in Round 3, as Ferguson blitzed Bustamante with a barrage of punches that ultimately prompted the referee to jump in and halt the action — albeit with ample protest of an early stoppage from the Misfits Boxing commentary team.
Afterward, Ferguson and Danis — the latter of whom captured the inaugural Misfits MMA title earlier in the night with a 15-second submission of Warren Spencer — planted the seeds for a future bout.
“We’ve got to do it for the belt now,” Danis said to Ferguson in-ring. “We’ve got to do it for the MMA belt. You had the UFC belt, now you come for my belt. Congrats on the win.”
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For full coverage of Saturday’s fight card, including live results, play-by-play and highlights of the entire DAZN pay-per-view, check out Uncrowned’s Misfits Boxing 22 hub.