On This Day — November 5: Ferguson's Ninth Straight Win at Altitude
Some fighters win streaks. Tony Ferguson weaponized his. On November 5, 2016, at altitude in Mexico City, he outlasted a former champion over five rounds to do something no lightweight in UFC history had ever done — and then, eleven years earlier to the day, November 5 had already given the sport a night that changed two careers and launched a third.
Some fighters win streaks. Tony Ferguson weaponized his. On November 5, 2016, at altitude in Mexico City, he outlasted a former champion over five rounds to do something no lightweight in UFC history had ever done — and then, eleven years earlier to the day, November 5 had already given the sport a night that changed two careers and launched a third.
2016 — Ferguson's ninth straight, at 7,000 feet
Mexico City sits more than 7,000 feet above sea level, and the thin air has ended plenty of game plans. Tony Ferguson and Rafael dos Anjos fought as if it wasn't there. For 25 minutes at UFC Fight Night 98, in front of 11,460 people at Arena Ciudad de México, the two most relentless lightweights in the world simply took turns — and when it ended, all three judges had it 48–47 for Ferguson.
Dos Anjos, fighting for the first time since losing the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez that July, looked like the champion early. He chopped at Ferguson's legs and snapped his head back with a left hand in the first round, and he took the third as well. The fight was level going into the fifth. But Ferguson's gift was never a single round — it was accumulation. He outstruck dos Anjos in every round on the official count, 187 significant strikes in all, and as the former champion's face marked up late in the fourth, Ferguson spent the final minutes stalking, taunting, dancing — a man who had more left at altitude than anyone had a right to.
The win was his ninth in a row, a streak no lightweight in UFC history had ever put together. It earned both men the $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, and it should have made Ferguson undeniable. His post-fight interview was pure Ferguson — he signed off with "Viva Mexico. That's it, I'm done," and walked out of the cage. The title shot the streak demanded would keep almost-happening for years; the streak itself, which eventually reached twelve, became the strangest résumé in the division's history: a champion's run built entirely without the undisputed belt at the end of it.
2016 — Alexa Grasso arrives
The Mexico City crowd had a debut to claim as its own. Alexa Grasso, the 23-year-old strawweight from Guadalajara, made her first UFC walk that night and beat veteran Heather Jo Clark on every card that mattered — 30–27, 30–27, 29–28. It was a composed, complete performance from a prospect the promotion had been tracking through Invicta, and the building treated it like a coronation in miniature. In March 2023 she would submit Valentina Shevchenko to take the flyweight title; the first chapter of that story is dated November 5 in front of her own people.
2005 — The Ultimate Fighter 2 crowns its men
Eleven years earlier, November 5 belonged to the reality show that was busy saving the UFC. The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale in Las Vegas closed with Diego Sanchez — the show's first-ever winner, from season one — beating Nick Diaz by unanimous decision, 30–27 on all three cards, in a main event built on genuine contempt. Below it, the season-two contracts were settled: Rashad Evans outpointed the much larger Brad Imes by split decision to win the heavyweight tournament, a result that made little sense until Evans dropped to light heavyweight and took that title three years later; and Joe Stevenson beat Luke Cummo by unanimous decision to win the lightweight contract. Evans, Sanchez, Stevenson: three names from one November night who between them would challenge for or hold UFC gold for the rest of the decade.
Also on this day
- 2016, Mexico City: Ricardo Lamas submitted Charles Oliveira with a second-round guillotine — despite Oliveira missing the featherweight limit by nine pounds — and took Performance of the Night.
- 2016, Mexico City: Diego Sanchez, eleven years after the TUF 2 Finale, beat touted debutant Marcin Held by unanimous decision as a betting underdog.
- 2016, Mexico City: Martín Bravo stopped Claudio Puelles in the second round to win The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3 lightweight tournament.
- 2016, Mexico City: Douglas Silva de Andrade's spinning-backfist knockout of Henry Briones earned the night's other Performance of the Night bonus.
November 5 is a date about trajectories: a streak that bent history without a belt, a debut that ended in one, and a reality show still producing champions. Ferguson just made sure it is remembered at altitude.
