The former interim lightweight champion faced fellow MMA vet Bobby Green on the pay-per-view portion of a stacked UFC 291 card in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

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Ferguson, 39, went into the fight on the worst run of his career and with his future in the promotion in the balance.

But his incredible decline continued as he was choked OUT COLD by a nasty arm triangle in the third round of the tussle.

Fan favourite immediately took the centre of the octagon and was his usual unorthodox self.

He looked to evade Green’s slick shots with fast and nimble footwork early doors – which he used to set up a stuffed takedown attempt.

Chants of “Let’s go Tony” rang throughout the arena as the Californian looked to work his way into striking range.

A slick one-two snapped back the head of Ferguson before the midway point in the round. But he returned the favour by dropping Green with a big straight right.

Green gave him some much-needed respite and the chance to shake off the cobwebs a few moments later thanks to an accidental eye poke.

Ferguson’s head was snapped back by another one-two moments after the restart but he ate the shots well.

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Ferguson was hesitant to strike early in the second, opting to shoot for a takedown instead.

A second takedown attempt from Ferguson was stuffed and resulted in him being on his back and eating bombs from Green in his full guard.

Green was relentless with his top pressure, which kept Ferguson grounded and vulnerable to crushing ground-and-pound.

Green, surprisingly, opted to let Ferguson return to his feet with a minute-and-a-half of the stanza remaining and went back to pinging his head back with stiff jabs.

Ferguson came roaring back with a big right hand with seconds of the round remaining but ended up being cracked with another huge right before the horn.

Ferguson drew a big reaction from the crowd with a hard low kick shortly after the final restart, although he ended up eating a big counter shot.

Green was supremely confident with his punches, so much so that he began talking to Ferguson after landing his combinations.

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Despite being bloodied and swollen, Ferguson continued to march forward and try to land low kicks.

A big right hand appeared to stagger Green, although he was quick to shake it off.

An ill-advised roll for a kneebar from Ferguson saw Green wind up in his guard.

And ‘King’ cut through the battered and bloodied future Hall-of-Famer’s guard like a knife through hot butter, slapping on an arm-triangle choke.

Ferguson tried his best to fight his way out of the choke but went out after Green managed to free his legs and put more pressure on his neck as he moved to the side.