Aspen Ladd and Tonya Evinger meet in a prelim card battle at UFC 229 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas tonight. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
With the attention that fight is getting, we all know that it is a must-see fight, as is the co-main event between former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and ex-lightweight kingpin Anthony Pettis.
With that in mind, here are three other fights you have to watch during tonight's UFC card.
UFC 229 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
1. Ovince Saint Preux vs. Dominick Reyes
Dominick Reyes was three weeks removed from a highlight-reel head kick knockout on an LFA card when he made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 112. The short break between fights did not affect Reyes. He ended that fight in under 30 seconds and earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his efforts. Since then, Reyes has added two more first-round stoppages to his record. He’s now 9-0 and steadily climbing the light heavyweight rankings. Reyes meets Ovince Saint Preux on the PPV card of UFC 229.
Saint Preux has had an up and down run with the UFC. An incredible athletic talent, Saint Preux has six fight-night bonus awards to his name. His problem is that whenever he starts to get momentum, he suffers a setback. He had a streak of three straight finishes come to an end in February when he was submitted in the first round by Ilir Latifi. He bounced back from that loss with a first-round knockout of Tyson Pedro.
2. Sergio Pettis vs. Jussier Formiga
The UFC flyweight division was thrown into a state of flux when Henry Cejudo wrested the title away from longtime champion Demetrious Johnson earlier this year. That victory should have opened up the division a bit, but with Cejudo gunning for a fight against bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw, no one really knows what’s going to happen inside the 125-pound division right now. Two fighters who could be next in line for a title shot are Sergio Pettis and Jussier Formiga.
Pettis and Formiga have both been close to fighting for the flyweight strap in the past, but they both faltered in fights that saw the man who defeated them move on to compete for the title. If the UFC wants to get some new blood in a championship bout, the winner of this contest could be the next title challenger. Don’t be surprised to hear the victor of this prelim contest call for a fight with Cejudo.
3. Tonya Evinger vs. Aspen Ladd
You have two different generations of fighters in the women’s bantamweight bout between Tony Avenger and Aspen Ladd. Evinger, the former Invicta FC bantamweight champ, made her pro debut in 2006. Since then she’s fought for numerous promotions and put together a record of 19-6-0-1. Her most recent fight, the one that got her into the UFC, was a July 2017 bout against UFC women’s featherweight queen, Cris Cyborg. Cyborg stopped the game Evinger in the third round of that contest.
By contrast, Ladd, who is 14 years younger than Evinger, made her debut in 2015. Since that time she’s put together a perfect 6-0 record with five stoppage victories. Ladd’s most recent outing was also her UFC debut, she stopped Lina Lansberg via strikes in the second round of that October 2017 contest.
Ladd has had issues with making weight in the past. She missed weight by two pounds at Invicta FC 18 and came in nearly two pounds heavy for a scheduled UFC bout against Leslie Smith. She was one of the last fighters to step on the scale for UFC 229. She made weight, but she did not look to be in the best of health when she stepped off the scale.
Ladd has a lot of hype behind her and many consider her a future title contender. She’ll have her work cut out for her against a veteran like Evinger.
