Fourth time is a charm.
On three previous occasions, the UFC has tried to get Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov into The Octagon. The closest they came was UFC 223, in April, but Ferguson badly damaged his knee and was replaced by first Max Holloway and then Al Iaquinta.
In 2017, Nurmagomedov was rushed to hospital after a weight cut went badly wrong and Ferguson won the interim belt by defeating Kevin Lee. The Dagestani’s win over Iaquinta gave him the “undisputed” belt and he defended that with his UFC 229 win over Conor McGregor.
That fight ended with another fight inside and outside of the cage, resulting in tempory suspensions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission until the matter is fully investigated.
Ferguson defeated Anthony Pettis on the same night and, later, told reporters:
“I’m the f***ing champ. You guys realise that, right?
“I’ve been the champ. I am the champ. You have these two knuckleheads over there making this sport look bad…
“I don’t have a belt up here, I don’t need to have a belt up here to be the champ. So if you guys want to feed that, go ahead, put that in your pocket and take it with you.”
In an interview with ESPN, UFC president Dana White boosted Ferguson’s hopes of fighting Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt.
“As a fight fan,” he said, “you’ve gotta go with Tony.
“Tony had the belt, tweaked his knee, got stripped, (McGregor versus Nurmagomedov) happens. Tony never lost the belt in a fight. Neither did Conor, but Conor actually got the opportunity to fight for the belt. I think Tony deserves the next shot.”
Nurmagomedov has been trying to talk himself into a boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. but White insists ‘the Mayweather team has not approached’ the UFC.
“Khabib is under contract with the UFC,” White said. “We haven’t talked to anybody from the Mayweather team.”
“What I thought was Floyd’s trying to wrestle and train some MMA to see what it’s like,” White added. “I don’t know if that’s the case, but that was what I thought. But we haven’t talked with anybody on the Mayweather side. Floyd’s good at getting himself back in the news.”
