Tony Ferguson’s boxing renaissance continues.
On Saturday, the latest Misfits Boxing card went down at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Fla., headlined by the Misfits debut of former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo. But before Cejudo made the walk, former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson successfully defended his Misfits middleweight title with a second-round finish over Mahmood Sebie in the co-main event.
Ferguson was originally supposed to defend his title against former soccer player Kenzo Biyong, but when Biyong withdrew from the fight just a few days before the event, Sebie — a former Olympic wrestler and MMA fighter — stepped in.
When the fight started, Ferguson came out strong with his pressure and jab, quickly putting Sebie on the back foot. After controlling the round, Ferguson then nearly scored the knockout at the end of the first, dropping Sebie with a sharp right hand. But Sebie was able to beat the count, and when he came out for the second round, he almost immediately hurt Ferguson, putting “El Cucuy” on the defensive. Ultimately, Sebie couldn’t close the show, and Ferguson turned the tables on him, sticking Sebie in the corner and pouring on the punches until the referee was forced to intervene.
After the fight, Ferguson was honest about his performance, noting that the passing of his mother beforehand left him not in the best state, even agreeing with Austin McBroom — who stepped in the ring to set up a title fight between them — when he said he didn’t know what he watched.
“I’m gonna be real with you, I don’t know what the f*ck it was either,” Ferguson said. “I was in the back, still dazed. It was kind of like in a dream state, trying to figure everything out. Literally, I lost my mom a couple of months ago, so I’m just battling through everything I possibly can right now. That shit is not going to happen when we fight.”
