5 UFC fighters who were never the same after an injury

Modified Jun 24, 2021 17:33 GMT

#4 Tony Ferguson - suffered a knee injury ahead of UFC 223

At UFC 223, Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov was booked for the fourth time. As fate would have it, 'El Cucuy' tripped over an electrical cord in the lead-up to the fight and was ruled out with a torn LCL.

Ferguson underwent an extensive recovery process and even reeled off two wins after coming back from the injury much earlier than the initial schedule suggested. But there's reason to believe that he hasn't been the same fighter since.

In his comeback fight against Anthony Pettis at UFC 229, Ferguson clearly wasn't moving very well. He was knocked down and nearly finished more than once, before a hand injury to 'Showtime' handed him a TKO victory.

Then, against Donald Cerrone, the 37-year-old claimed another TKO victory, this time because 'Cowboy' blew his damaged nose and caused his own eye to shut. There was also a controversial punch after the bell that stung Cerrone, but the referee ruled that the blow wasn't to his beaten-up eye.

Ferguson was on a 12-fight win streak after beating 'Cowboy', so it probably wasn't clear then that he wasn't entirely the same. But his following three defeats to Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush exposed the holes in his game and clearly reduced explosiveness.

Coincidence or not, we've seen a different version of Tony Ferguson since his knee injury ahead of UFC 223.

#3 Rashad Evans - suffered a knee injury ahead of UFC 170

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans was scheduled to face Daniel Cormier at UFC 170. A historically injury-prone fighter, 'Suga' encountered a knee problem that was expected to keep him out of the bout and away from the octagon for only four weeks.

The injury proved to be hell for Evans, who underwent many procedures and recurring issues before finally making his return to the UFC in October 2015 - almost two years after his previous appearance. He had lost only three of his 18 UFC fights until then, but things went horribly wrong for the New York native.

Evans lost his comeback fight against Ryan Bader via unanimous decision, before falling to Glover Teixeira, Daniel Kelly, Sam Alvey and Anthony Smith. He then announced his retirement from MMA in June 2018, shortly after his loss to 'Lionheart'.

Losing all five of his fights after the knee injury, Evans was a shadow of his former self.