Ferguson defeats Dos Anjos at UFC Mexico City for 9th straight win

Tony Ferguson will not be stopped.

On Saturday, "El Cucuy" won his ninth straight fight and earned the biggest win of his career by taking a unanimous decision over former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Fight Night 98 in Mexico City.

It is the longest active-winning streak in the promotion's 155-pound division. Ferguson is tied with Max Holloway for the best streak overall, trailing only flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (10) and interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (13).

The fight lived up to the high expectations set by two of the lightweight division's most decorated competitors as Ferguson and Dos Anjos went back and forth for five action-packed rounds.

For a while, it looked as if Dos Anjos' sharp counter-punching would prove to be Ferguson's undoing. Dos Anjos interrupted Ferguson's combinations with a sudden left hand on more than one occasion. However, Ferguson was undeterred by the damaging blows and continued to press forward.

Ferguson loosened up even more in Round 2, but he still couldn't put away his opponent. It was actually Dos Anjos who looked to be landing the heavier shots until Ferguson wobbled him with a straight left that may have swung the round in Ferguson's favor.

Even though the fight remained close in Rounds 3 and 4, it was evident Ferguson was the fresher of the two men. Dos Anjos' face was visibly busted up as Ferguson continued to dance around him and strike from unorthodox angles. By the end of Round 5, Ferguson looked to be the winner based on traditional scoring and the proverbial "eye test."

Dos Anjos failed to rebound from losing the UFC lightweight title in his last fight, a knockout at the hands of Eddie Alvarez. This is Dos Anjos' first decision loss since being outpointed by Khabib Nurmagomedov in April 2014 and he now finds himself on just the second losing streak of his 12-year career.