A flyweight bout between former title challengers Joseph Benavidez and Ray Borg has been added to UFC 229 on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN.
UFC 229 stands to be one of the biggest events in the company’s history, with a lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor already booked to be the headliner. The pay-per-view event will take place inside T-Mobile Arena.
Benavidez (25-5), 34, is coming off a split-decision loss to Sergio Pettis at UFC 225 in June. It was his first appearance in 18 months because of an ACL injury suffered in 2017.
Benavidez had been on a six-fight winning streak before that setback, and his only previous loss at 125 pounds was to former longtime champion Demetrious Johnson.
Borg (11-3) hasn’t fought since he came up short against Johnson in a failed title bid last October. A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was supposed to face Brandon Moreno earlier this year at UFC 223 in Brooklyn but was forced to withdraw after he reported an eye injury following McGregor’s infamous attack on a UFC bus at Barclays Center.
The UFC’s decision to book Borg, 25, on the same card as McGregor is interesting in itself.
McGregor, 30, agreed to a plea deal regarding the bus incident last month. The deal included an order of protection for Borg, which ordered McGregor to “stay away from [Borg’s] home, school, business and place of employment.” McGregor was also ordered not to contact Borg in any way.