The UFC has begun to build the UFC 229 card, atop which the massive lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor will sit.
UFC 229 is getting bigger by the minute. Not that anything is going to top the main event of Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov. Still, on Thursday the UFC announced the addition of five bouts to the event, including a previously announced pairing of Ryan LaFlare vs. Tony Martin (LaFlare spilled the beans on that one yesterday). In addition to that, Michelle Waterson vs. Felice Herrig, Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis, Dominick Reyes vs. Ovince St. Preux, and Lina Lansberg vs. Yana Kunitskaya have all been added to the card.
Where to begin. It’s easy to forget that Ovince St. Preux was fighting for interim light heavyweight gold against Jon Jones not too long ago. OSP put on a valiant effort against Jones, but lost the war, and his next two fights. Since then, however, St. Preux (23–11) has gone 3-1, including back-to-back Von Flue choke wins last year, and most recently, a straight arm-bar submission of Tyson Pedro.
A tough test for anyone at 205lbs, he’s set to welcome Dominick Reyes (9-0) to the upper echelon of the division. Reyes is three for three in the UFC so far, and is coming off a TKO of Jared Cannonier.
On the women’s side, at strawweight, arguably the most significant addition to the card is Michelle Waterson vs. Felice Herrig. A promotional darling, Waterson (15-6) has struggled, going just 3-2 in her UFC tenure to date. The former Invicta FC atomweight champ most recently earned a split decision win over Cortney Casey in April.
Felice Herrig, meanwhile, battled her way to four straight wins until losing a close split decision to Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 223. She’ll look to take the momentum back here.
Yana Kunitskaya (10–4 (1)) is a former Invicta FC bantamweight champ who was fed to granted a featherweight title fight against Cris Cyborg in her UFC debut earlier this year. She’ll take on another former Cyborg opponent, Lina Lansberg (8–3). Lansberg is coming off a win over Gina Mazany.
Flyweight action could put one of Sergio Pettis (17-3) and Jussier Formiga (21-5) in the title picture. Pettis is coming off a split decision win over one of the division’s best fighters in Joseph Benavidez. Formiga, meanwhile, has won two straight against Ben Nguyen and Ulka Sasaki.
And finally, Ryan LaFlare (14-2) will look to build on his UFC Atlantic City win over Alex Garcia when he takes on Tony Martin (13-4), who won his UFC welterweight debut last time out against Keita Nakamura.
UFC 229 takes place October 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
