Khabib's cousin Umar Nurmagomedov out of UFC 254 after being hospitalized

It seems that Russian bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov's UFC debut is jinxed because, for the third time, the cousin of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has been forced to pull out of his upcoming UFC debut.

Umar Nurmagomedov was set to make his octagon debut against Sergei Morozov at UFC 254, which will take place at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Russian news agency TASS was one of the first outlets to report that Umar Nurmagomedov had been hospitalized with “severe flu, fever, and vomiting,” and the same was later confirmed by the Bantamweight's cousin, Khabib.

In a post on Instagram, Khabib Nurmagomedov said that Umar's symptoms were caused by a staphylococcal infection and that he's been hospitalized in Abu Dhabi currently.

View this post on Instagram

Всем Салам Алейкум. Последние несколько дней Умар пролежал в отеле с высокой температурой, которая была вызвана стафилококковой инфекцией. Но несмотря на это он и вся наша команда были настроены, что он выступит 24 октября. Сегодня утром, перед нашим вылетом в Абу-Даби ему стало хуже и его госпитализировали в Дубае. - Выздоравливай Братишка, значит так было суждено @umar_nurmagomedov

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Oct 18, 2020 at 4:40am PDT

“The last few days, Umar has been in a hotel with a high fever, which was caused by a staphylococcal infection. But despite this, he and our entire team were determined that he would perform on October 24th. This morning, before our flight to Abu Dhabi, he got worse and was hospitalized in Dubai. Get well brother, so it was meant to be.”

This was the third time that Umar Nurmagomedov has been forced to pull out of a debut matchup with the UFC. The first time Umar Nurmagomedov was booked to make his octagon debut was against Hunter Azure at UFC 249, and just like his cousin Khabib, Umar had to pull out due to restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic. The second fight that Umar withdrew from was against Nathaniel Wood at UFC on ESPN 14, due to the death of his uncle and coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

Both Khabib and Umar were scheduled to fight on the UFC 254 card, but it is now only Khabib who will battle Justin Gaethje in a bid to defend his 155lbs title for the third successive time.