Tony Ferguson was a beast at 170 pounds. At 155, he looked beyond scary.
Aaron Riley is a seasoned veteran but he couldn't deal with the length and power from the 5-foot-11 Ferguson. Riley made it through the first round, but told his corner that his jaw was broken and the fight was stopped giving Ferguson a first round TKO win at UFC 135.
"I'm ecstatic. I wish I could've given the crowd a little better show. I wish I went a little further," said Ferguson.
[Related: Complete recap of UFC 135]
The crowd more than got its money's worth watching Ferguson's offensive and defensive boxing. According to Compustrike, Ferguson outlanded Riley 28-14 in power strikes.
Just over two minutes into the fight, Ferguson landed a massive left uppercut on the right side of Riley's jaw. Riley's eyes rolled back and he began to open and close his mouth.
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Riley retreated and got slugged by some more shots, but he was in big trouble. Riley (30-13-1, 3-5 UFC) fired back with some good kicks, but you could see there was a major issue as he would look to the side every so often and spit out blood.
Ferguson (13-3) credited his movement against the southpaw as the reason his offense worked so well.
"We worked a lot of slipping [punches]. We worked really hard on fighting a southpaw," said Ferguson, who likes being down at lightweight. He won TUF 13 as a welterweight. "I feel kind of skinny. I have some more ripples in my stomach. It's kind of cool, but I think this a nice little home for me."
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It was a tough night for the veteran Riley, who first fought in the UFC back in 2002 at UFC 137. He'd been away from active fighting since May of 2010 nursing injuries. He actually suffered a broken jaw once before against Spencer Fisher back in 2006 at Ultimate Fight Night 3. He had to quit after the first round that night as well.
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