Former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson will return to action against Anthony Pettis at UFC 229 on October 6th in Las Vegas.
Ferguson was supposed to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title back in April, but a freak injury to his knee during fight week forced him to withdraw and led to him being stripped of his interim title.
Now he’s finally healed up and is looking to rebuild towards another opportunity to fight for the title sooner rather than later.
Another win could be all it takes as Ferguson certainly had the track record to justify fighting the winner of UFC 229’s main event between current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, having won no less than 10 fights in a row.
Along the way he defeated the likes of former champion Rafael dos Anjos, Edson Barboza, Kevin Lee and Josh Thomson and stopped seven of his opponents inside the distance by either strikes or submission.
Now he goes up a former champion in Pettis, who has gone 2-1 since returning to lightweight following a brief stint at featherweight.
That run began with a decision win over Jim Miller, before losing out to Dustin Poirier by submission. However, Pettis looked most like his old self last time out against Michael Chiesa, earning a triangle armbar submission finish early in the second round to set up a major fight that could rekindle his own title aspirations.