Justin Gaethje defeated Tony Ferguson by TKO in the fifth round to claim the UFC interim lightweight championship Saturday night in the main event of UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida.
In a brilliant performance, Gaethje dominated Ferguson throughout, with the stoppage coming at 3 minutes, 39 seconds.
Saturday’s card, which was originally scheduled for April 18 in Brooklyn, New York, before being rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic, took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena with no fans in attendance.
Gaethje came out swinging in the opening two rounds, connecting several times with hard left hooks to Ferguson’s jaw.
But as he typically does, Ferguson ate the blows and kept coming forward. He stunned Gaethje at the end of the second round with a right uppercut that landed on the chin, dropping Gaethje to his seat just as the horn sounded.
By Round 3, Ferguson had suffered cuts under both eyes and massive swelling under his right eye, as Gaethje’s strikes continued to land hard and flush.
Gaethje kept up the pressure in the fourth with hard but measured punches and wobbled Ferguson twice with massive leg kicks.
Gaethje rocked Ferguson with a crisp two-punch combination in the opening minute of the final round and had Ferguson stumbling backward toward the cage with another combination a minute later.
A hard jab pushed Ferguson against the cage again, forcing referee Herb Dean to wave the fight off seconds later.
Gaethje (22-2) snapped Ferguson’s UFC lightweight record of 12 consecutive wins. He was stepping in for lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, who said when UFC 249 was originally scheduled for April 18 that he was unable to compete due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
Gaethje, 31, has won four straight fights.
Ferguson (26-4), 36, lost for the first time since 2012, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Michael Johnson.
Ferguson is ESPN’s No. 6-ranked pound-for-pound fighter.