Tony Ferguson had his twelve-fight win streak snapped by Justin Gaethje in the headliner of tonight’s UFC 249 event in Florida.

‘El Cucuy’ was returning to action for the first time since UFC 238 in June of 2019, where he had defeated Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrrone by way of TKO.

Ferguson was originally slated to square off with reigning division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at tonight’s event. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘The Eagle’ was forced to remain in Russia and so the UFC turned to Justin Gaethje.

Gaethje brought with him an impressive three-fight winning streak to UFC 249, with all three of those victories coming by way of first round knockout.

Despite Gaethje’s recent success, Ferguson remained very confident that he would go on to take home the promotions interim lightweight title and guarantee himself a future showdown with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Ultimately that did not prove to be the case, as Justin Gaethje was able to batter Tony Ferguson with punches and leg kicks through the majority of the opening four rounds of action.

After Gaethje landed a barrage of punches and kicks in round five, the referee stepped in to call a stop to the action.

Shortly following the main event ruling, Tony Ferguson spoke with Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview.

“Man it’s been a long f*cking camp, I’ll be real. We’ve been preparing since November. Obviously the 18th didn’t fall through with Khabib. Obviously Justin (Gaethje) was the only one who wanted to sign on the dotted line. Just a long camp and the weigh cut had nothing to do with it.”

Tony Ferguson continued:

”Justin Gaethje is a tough son of a bitch. I’ll be real. I prepared for Khabib, not so much of a striker, but sh*t happens man what can you do? I would have much rather got finished than have somebody stepping in.”

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This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on May 10, 2020