Michael Chandler Was Injured Moments Before Tony Ferguson Fight

Michael Chandler earned an important victory at UFC 274.

Chandler defeated “El Cucuy” Ferguson in the second round via front kick knockout. It was the second victory for him in the UFC and his ticket to staying in the promotion.

However, just 20-30 minutes before the fight, while warming up, he suffered some injuries on his hand, but still decided to fight, he revealed.

“I dislocated my [ring] finger about 20-30 minutes before the fight, blocking a kick,” Chandler said. “… Warmup was already done, I’m going out in about 10-20 minutes, and I go, ‘Hey, throw some high kicks at me and I’ll block them and go body shot.’ And he threw a normal kick like he’s done 1,000 times at me and I ended up going fingernail all the way back, bent it all the way back.”

“At this point, we keep the adrenaline going, I said ‘this ain’t a hand, it’s a hammer. We gotta go.’”

His injury seemingly did not affect the way he fought.

He nabbed the victory after going on a two-fight losing streak, which were handed by Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje. He called out Conor McGregor at 170 pounds.

He also expressed the desire to fight with Nate Diaz in the same weight category.