Tony Ferguson (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

2018 certainly hasn’t unfolded in the manner Tony Ferguson originally planned, but “El Cucuy” is reporting he’s more than back-on-track, as he gets set to fight Anthony Pettis.

Ferguson will be returning to the cage at UFC 229, for the first time since last October, when he submitted Kevin Lee. The former interim lightweight champ was scheduled to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in April, but a freak injury pulled him from the massive bout, just days before.

Recently Ferguson spoke with the UFC about the injury, and his time on the sidelines, and while doing so he said this:

“I think, more than anything else, I’m more excited to beat the challenge that my doctor set for me,” Ferguson said. “They told me six months to a year to heal and I looked at that and actually laughed at it when I saw it on paper. Step by step, I took it with a grain of salt and I beat this thing like it was a fight camp.”

“It was a freak accident that happened, I was so close to fight time, I was really in fight shape and I didn’t want to miss out on any opportunities,” he said. “There was fuel for the fire that I really needed to get my s**t together in my life. Even outside the Octagon I’ve grown so much as a man and as a family man, first and foremost. I stayed faith-driven and I really turned everything around. I haven’t had a drink since February because I like the way my body feels, and I took away a lot of bad habits and replaced them with good ones.”

The 34 year-old Ferguson (23-3) is riding a ten fight winning streak heading into UFC 229.

Saturday’s event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.