Dana White has announced that a lightweight fight between Paddy Pimblett and Tony Ferguson will take place at UFC 296 in Las Vegas on December 16th.
The 28-year-old Pimblett returns to the Octagon for the highest-profile fight of his career so far after having spent the past year out of action due to an ankle surgery that required surgery.
Pimblett has won all four of his fights in the Octagon so far, but while the first three of those saw the former Cage Warriors champion emerge victorious inside the distance via a KO and two submissions, he found the going much tougher against Jared Gordon last time out.
In fact, many believed that Gordon should have won that fight after an underwhelming performance from Pimblett, but he still emerged victorious via unanimous decision, extending his overall career record to 20-3.
Now he’ll be fighting one of the best known names in the lightweight ranks, though the 39-year-old Ferguson is a long way past his heyday when he won 12 fights in a row from 2013-2019.
Since then Ferguson has experienced a rapid decline, having lost his last six fights in a row, with the latter two of those coming by way of submission against Nate Diaz and Bobby Green.
Pimblett vs. Ferguson will take place on a UFC 296 card that’s headlined by a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington, while flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja faces Brandon Royval in the co-main event.
