Bobby Green Beats Tony Ferguson by 3rd-Round Submission in ...

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Tony Ferguson's struggles continued at UFC 291 with a third-round submission loss to Bobby Green on the main card at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Ferguson looked sharp in the opening minutes of the fight. He peppered Green with a few punches from the outside even scoring a knockdown at one point. However, an accidental eyepoke from Green halted some of that momentum.

Green started connecting after Ferguson was given time to recover in a round that was close.

Round 2 was a much more emphatic win for Green. Ferguson shot a takedown early that failed and wound up with Green on top. From there, he was able to do considerable damage with his ground-and-pound.

Ferguson was able to work his way to his feet, but didn't have much success there either, although he finished the round strong with a few combinations.

The third round was more of the same with Green tagging Ferguson at will. He could have went on cruise control to take the decision but worked his way to an arm-triangle choke and submitted Ferguson.

The loss continues a six-fight skid for the former interim champion. He has not won a fight since Donald Cerrone by doctors stoppage in the second round in June 2019.

Most of those losses have come against great competition. The losing streak started with a loss to Justin Gaethje in an interim title fight before losses to Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler and Nate Diaz extended the streak.

All of those fighters are either highly ranked or fought for UFC titles. Green is a clear step down in competition who has had his own recent struggles. He was 2-4 with one No Contest in his last seven fights.

A loss to Green should bring up thoughts of retirement for the 39-year-old even if that's not where his head was at leading up to the fight. El Cucuy laid out his plan to fight five more times to earn a title shot before the loss.

"I want five fights and then a title," he said, per Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com. "It's got to be five of the right fights, finish the right way with all the fixings, just like a nice little steak that you're throwing on the grill with the sweet potato pie and everything else that goes with it. The sweeter that each fight gets, the closer I'm going to get to that title."

It's safe to say Ferguson ever getting back into the mix at lightweight is as big a longshot as it's ever been after losing to Green.