UFC 229 is already looking set to be the promotion’s best and biggest event of 2018 with Khabib Nurmagomedov defending his UFC lightweight crown against former concurrent featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Now, reports suggest UFC 229 could get yet another big fight added to its already stacked fight card – Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis. [H/T MMA Fighting]
This would be a fight adding to UFC 229’s overarching lightweight division theme. Ferguson is a former UFC interim lightweight champion, while Pettis has held gold in the lightweight division for both WEC and UFC.
Ferguson is riding a 10-fight win streak, having defeated Kevin Lee for the interim championship at UFC 216 in October of last year.
“El Cucuy” was then set to face Nurmagomedov as the interim belt holder at UFC 223 in April, but suffered a freak knee injury on the week of the fight, which saw him pulled from the fight and, consequently, lost his belt as Nurmagomedov fought and beat his replacement Al Iaquinta in the show’s main event.
Earlier in August, Ferguson announced he had fully recovered from his knee injury and was cleared to fight.
https://twitter.com/TonyFergusonXT/status/1028180634034888704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1028180634034888704&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightersonlymag.com%2Flatest-news%2Ftony-ferguson-says-hes-cleared-for-ufc-return-khabib-nurmagomedov-conor-mcgregor-ufc-229%2F
Pettis seems to have overcome his recent poor run of fighting form after staking his claim as one of the greatest lightweights for four years from 2010.
The Milwaukee native’s downward slide started after tasting his first defeat in years against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185, losing his belt in the process.
“Showtime” then suffered consecutive losses to talented lightweights Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza, before embarking on an ill-fated run down at featherweight.
But Pettis is back as a lightweight and boasts two wins from his last three, beating wily veteran Jim Miller and scoring an impressive victory over crafty submission specialist Michael Chiesa at UFC 226 in July.
That second-round submission win over Chiesa really showed the flair to Pettis’ fighting which wowed so many fans as recently as four years ago, and many believe it signalled Pettis’ return as a lightweight contender.
UFC 229 is set to take place at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on October 6th.
