UFC Fight Night 98 is one for the books as the fight concluded Saturday night with Tony "el Cucuy" Ferguson taking the fight to former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and achieved his 9th straight victory. Ferguson left former champ dos Anjos bloody.
Tony "el Cucuy" bloodied the ex-champ in the middle rounds as he forced the fight to stay standing by taking away dos Anjos' legs early on and stuffing all attempts by the former champ to take Ferguson to the ground. Ferguson even appeared to give dos Anjos dancing lessons as he "chacha-d" in front of his opponent in the latter rounds to throw off dos Anjos' timing and deliver some devastating blows of his own. dos Anjos was able to fire some powerful shots of his own.
But in an unexpected twist, Ferguson just walked through them and delivered some pretty powerful counters that sent the former champ back-pedaling. At one point, dos Anjos ate a knee from Ferguson as they were breaking up from a short trade of punches which sent the Brazilian back towards the fence. Ferguson danced his way around the Brazilian for a ninth straight victory inside the octagon and setting up a possible match up with the winner of UFC 205's lightweight match between champ Eddie Alvarez and featherweight champ Connor McGregor.
"Tony was a better fighter tonight," dos Anjos said afterward. "I felt like his fingers in my eye bothered me in the second. But that's not an excuse. Tony did a great job. He was a better fighter today."
Also on the card on Saturday night was the highly anticipated fight between Ricardo Lamas and Charles Oliveira who came in almost 10 pounds over the weight limit. However, despite the difference in official weight, Lamas defeated the Brazilian submission expert at his own game catching Oliveira in a guillotine choke at 2:13 of the second round. Lamas survived a rear naked choke from Oliveira in the closing seconds of the first which could have spelled the end for Lamas had he not been saved by the bell.
Diego Sanchez defeats newcomer Marcin Held via unanimous decision, while Alexa Grasso was successful in her UFC debut by defeating Heather Jo Clark via unanimous decision. The Ultimate Fighter: Latin Americas also has a new product in Martin Bravo when he defeated Claudio Puelles at 1:55 of the second when the proud Mexican sent his opponent to the canvas with a well placed punch to the liver.