Tony Ferguson (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Yves Edwards fought over 60 times during his memorable career, and took on many the planet’s best lightweights, but the UFC vet says Tony Ferguson is the best fighter he ever faced.

Recently Edwards spoke with UFC.com for one of the promotion’s “What a Fighter Knows” stories. When asked who was the best fighter he battled in the cage, Edwards stated this:

That’s a good one. (Tatsuya) Kawajiri was so game plan-oriented and he stuck to it. He didn’t let me use any of my skills. Once he was able to get a hold of me, he was able to control and hold me down and not let me create scrambles or anything like that. So I want to give him credit for that. Overall, I was leaning toward Josh Thomson because he could do everything. He could wrestle, he could kickbox, and his jiu-jitsu was good. He was just a little cocky and made some mistakes when we fought. He deserves that credit. But when I think about it now and remember the fight, the best guy I fought was Tony Ferguson. You can tell in a fight when a guy is starting to break, especially when you do things that they’re not expecting or you land good shots. And I landed lots of leg kicks and I hit him a couple times, and his demeanor, his fight attitude, his aura never changed. He always felt like he was in it to win it, and he never felt afraid or intimidated by me at any point in the fight. He didn’t feel overconfident and it didn’t feel like he was being cocky towards me, but he seemed to be in the moment the whole time and I could never break his rhythm.

Ferguson, who is currently booked to fight fellow contender Michael Chiesa on July 13th, has won seven straights fights. Most recently in December, he submitted Edson Barboza.