Dana White says he may re-book Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson
UFC President Dana White claims that he may still book a dream matchup between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.
MMA fans across the globe have been starved of this epic clash between two of the most dangerous lightweights during their prime for many years now and that's got nothing to do with the promotion's reluctance to book the matchup. In fact, the UFC booked the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson matchup, believe it or not, five times but not a single time did it come to fruition.
When the fifth and what everyone assumed final attempt at the matchup fell through due to COVID related safety measures adopted by Nurmagomedov's native country Russia, Ferguson was instead matched up with Justin Gaethje in a fight for the interim lightweight title in the headliner of UFC 249. Tony Ferguson lost that fight via fifth-round TKO, marking the end of his 12-fight unbeaten streak.The loss killed a lot of the hype surrounding the ill-fated Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson matchup.
However, Dana White has revealed that he’d still make the fight if Ferguson wins his next fight and Nurmagomedov successfully defends his title against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on October 24.
“If Khabib does beat Gaethje, you get Tony Ferguson another fight, which we’re working on right now,” White told Sports Illustrated. “And hopefully that fight with Khabib happens because I know people want to see it.I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight fall apart as many times as those two,” he said. “It almost scares me to make the fight again. What’s going to happen? An asteroid comes to earth? That’s the level of bad this thing is.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 later this month.