Report: Ferguson injury caused by simple tripping incident

It seems as though Tony Ferguson’s injury was caused by a freak accident.

Injuries happen in MMA. A lot. So when you hear about a fighter being forced to withdraw from a very big opportunity, you assume they got hurt during training because that’s usually how it goes. Apparently that’s not true in Tony Ferguson’s case though.

Ferguson was forced out of his lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 due to a knee injury, just six days before the event, and will be replaced by featherweight champion Max Holloway. But according to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Ferguson’s injury came in the weirdest of fashions:

“I’m told the injury to Tony Ferguson was literally caused by a trip. The freak accident of all freak accidents. He was walking, saw someone he wasn’t expecting to see, veered sharply to say hello and tripped.”

That is especially unfortunate considering how unique Ferguson’s training methods are. The guy kicks steel-reinforced pipes, for example. For a simple freak accident to be responsible for taking the biggest opportunity of his career away - that has to hurt.

Holloway will look to become the UFC’s fifth fighter to win titles in two different divisions when he meets Nurmagomedov this weekend in Brooklyn.