One other high-profile struggle has been booked for UFC 296 with former interim light-weight champion Tony Ferguson going through off with Paddy Pimblett.
UFC CEO Dana White on Friday introduced the struggle for the Dec. 16 pay-per-view occasion at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas. He additionally confirmed a welterweight struggle between Stephen Thompson and Shavkhat Rakhmonov that the fighters agreed to earlier on social media. Each fights are prone to serve on the ESPN+ foremost card.
Pimblett initially didn’t anticipate to return this yr after struggling an ankle damage in his controversial win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282; the U.Ok. star stated the damage was extra extreme than initially anticipated.
Now, the 28-year-old will get the prospect to choose up a win over the most important title he’s confronted in his profession, although the timing of the matchup is actually beneath favorable circumstances. Ferguson has misplaced six straight fights beginning with a failed bid for the interim light-weight title in opposition to Justin Gaethje at UFC 249.
In his most up-to-date outing, Ferguson was submitted by Bobby Inexperienced at UFC 291. He later attributed his loss to an eye fixed poke from his opponent that left him unable to carry out within the octagon.
Followers and fighters begged Ferguson to retire following his most up-to-date setback, however the interim champ launched a defiant assertion blaming his loss on a wide range of components inside and out of doors the cage.
UFC 296’s struggle card remains to be beneath building, stated White, who earlier this week introduced a welterweight title struggle between champ Leon Edwards and Colby Covington because the end-of-year pay-per-view’s headliner.
