The UFC added another fight to the UFC 209 card, announcing Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson have agreed in principle to fight on March 4.
“It’s happening,” UFC President Dana White said Thursday, per the Los Angeles Times‘ Lance Pugmire. “We haven’t received bout agreements from both guys, but they’ve both verbally agreed.”
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson are ranked first and second in the lightweight division. Pugmire noted the UFC booked a fight between the two since champion Conor McGregor’s immediate future remains uncertain.
After McGregor’s UFC 205 victory over Eddie Alvarez in November, White said he expected the top lightweight to be out of action for 10 months, per FoxSports.com’s Damon Martin.
That would put McGregor’s next fight around September, at which point he’d likely face the winner of Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson.
In an interview on The MMA Hour on Jan. 2 (h/t MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle), Nurmagomedov lobbed the first verbal grenade in his upcoming bout with Ferguson: “I want to beat Tony Ferguson, take the interim bulls–t belt, and I will fight with Conor for real belt. This is what I want to make in 2017.”
Nurmagomedov is coming off a submission victory over Michael Johnson at UFC 205, which ran his pro record to 24-0. Ferguson earned a unanimous decision against Rafael dos Anjos on Nov. 5. It was his ninth straight win since losing to Johnson in May 2012.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson’s clash will be among the most anticipated on a card that is headlined by Tyron Woodley’s welterweight title defense against Stephen Thompson, which is a rematch of their UFC 205 fight that ended in a draw.
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