Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Lightweights

9. Tony Ferguson

I was absolutely shocked that Tony Ferguson ended up this far down the list. I had him third and expected him to be in the top five at least. Sadly, too many are remembering Ferguson for his current ignominious five-fight losing streak. But Ferguson was already 36 years old when it started, positively ancient for the 155 pound weight class, and had a bunch of miles on his odometer, a consequence of his endlessly aggressive attacking style. While Ferguson's speed, reaction time and legendary chin and cardio still held up, he was an absolute terror, mixed martial arts’ version of all-time great boxer Henry “Homicide” Armstrong. Whether punching, kicking, elbowing, wrestling or pulling off submissions, Ferguson never stopped coming after an opponent. There was just no escape or even respite from his attack. He was utterly unique in his approach, using weird angles on his feet, with a unique rhythm of strikes that could come from anywhere at any time. His ground game was equally bewildering and difficult to counter, employing the rubber guard and training under Eddie Bravo. And despite how risky that style was and some of the monster shots he was blasted with, Ferguson was undefeated for an incredible eight years from 2012 to 2020, garnering 12 emphatic wins during that time. He finished Edson Barboza, Gleison Tibau, Kevin Lee, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone while winning lopsided decisions over Rafael dos Anjos and Josh Thomson. That's a list littered with former champions. Sadly, MMA fans never got to see Ferguson in his prime face Khabib Nurmagomedov, a match booked and then canceled five different times, as if the gods themselves were against it. Still, Ferguson was utterly great and undefeated for nearly a decade, a tremendous run of dominance.

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