Last night's UFC 238 fight card yielded tons of action, as expected. Interestingly enough, it was a non-title fight that garnered all the attention following the broadcast in its entirety. In the co-main event, Tony Ferguson earned a controversial stoppage over Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at the discretion of the referee Dan Miragliotta, currently the center of controversy, despite the resources (video replay).
Let me preface this by saying, Miragliotta has also been the beneficiary of support following his controversial TKO ruling. After reviewing the sequence that ended the fight, Miragliotta upheld his decision to reflect a clean strike at the hands of Tony Ferguson. Cerrone's corner felt that Ferguson's TKO strike landed after the bell had sounded. Miragliota begged to differ, as he contended that Ferguson's "illegal strike" was indecisive - the final blow alleged to have come earlier in the bloody exchange. Worst yet, Cerrone's swollen eye certainly didn't help embolden his case in the eyes of the authority figure.
Nonetheless, Cerrone refused to acknowledge the accidental blow, out of respect for his opponent. "The punch had nothing to do with it," Cerrone said in his post-fight interview. "That was the fight I think everybody wanted. I don't quit, I don't back down. I just want to keep fighting." With the victory, Ferguson reclaims the ground he lost during his short layoff. Could a title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov lie in the cards for Tony upon the Lightweight Champion's return from suspension?