Donald Cerrone helped turn around a hostile crowd in Chicago with an assist from the man who’d battered him moments earlier.
Passed the post-fight mic by Tony Ferguson, the winner of the “People’s Main Event” at UFC 238, Cerrone admitted he’d made a critical mistake in between Rounds 2 and 3 by blowing out a broken nose, which caused his right eye to completely shut.
Cerrone apologized for unintentionally cutting the fight short.
“That was the fight I think everybody wanted,” Cerrone said in the octagon moments after referee Dan Miragliotta ruled Ferguson the winner via injury TKO. “I’m so sorry. I don’t quit. I don’t back down.
“Man, I just wanted to keep fighting. I was just asking, ‘Can you just push the air back down?’ You’re right, I shouldn’t have blown my nose. I’m a veteran, I’m old school, and I should’ve known that. But I did, and I humbly couldn’t finish the fight, and I apologize.”
There were a few tense moments inside the cage at the end of the second round. Ferguson landed a blatantly late shot, prompting a hard warning from Miragliotta. Then, Cerrone made the wrong move for self-administered care.
A review of the foul revealed that Ferguson’s late punch didn’t directly impact the eye, so the possibility of a no contest or disqualification didn’t come into play. That wasn’t much of a consolation to Ferguson, who saw a masterful performance marred by an unforced error.
Like Ferguson came to Cerrone’s corner, Cerrone did the same as he dismissed the late punch as a factor with his eye.
“I just asked if they could push the air back down,” Cerrone said. “That’s all I wanted. The punch had nothing to do with it.”
For complete coverage of UFC 238, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
