Who got the worst (and best) end of the deal in the UFC 223 main event switcheroo?

The injury shakeup in the UFC 223 main event was a bit of bad news for the MMA community, but the mishap and the fallout didn’t hit all parties equally.

Who got the worst of this one, and who came out smelling like a rose now that the lightweight title fight has been rebooked with the help of the featherweight champ? We’re so glad you asked …

Tony Ferguson

To lay his hands on an interim title, all Tony Ferguson had to do was win 10 fights in a row in one of the most fiercely competitive divisions in the UFC. Then one bizarre injury a week out from the biggest fight of his career was all it took to make that title “go away,” in the words of UFC President Dana White. So yeah, this is a bad deal for “El Cucuy.” What’s worse, he gets the blame for ruining the party here, even though he’s now fallen out of the fight the exact same number of times as Nurmagomedov. Where’s the sympathy for T-Ferg, who spent the better part of five years climbing this mountain, only to have his knee give out in sight of the summit?