TONY FERGUSON HAS been slotted into ‘co-main event’ billing at UFC 229 on October 6 when he will hope to keep himself next in line to face the winner of the headline bout.

Before Conor McGregor makes his return to the octagon against Khabib Nurmagomedov with the UFC lightweight title on the line, Ferguson will make his return from injury face another former lightweight belt holder in Anthony Pettis.

Ferguson is on a 10-fight winning run and fought his way to the interim lightweight title before suffering a knee injury. Pettis lost the lightweight title to Rafael dos Anjos in 2015 and has won three of his seven UFC bouts since then.

The positioning of the bout as a ‘co-main event’ with the eagerly anticipated meeting of  Nurmagomedov and McGregor gives the UFC a helpful fallback option should either  of the main attractions be forced to pull out of the Las Vegas event.

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Elsewhere in the UFC lightweight division,  last night’s event in Nebraska saw wild celebrations as Justin Gaethje delivered a first-round knock-out of James Vick to bounce back after defeats to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier.

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