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It was recently reported that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is looking at booking a Lightweight match up between two former interim title holders in Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier. While the details were a bit gloomy, including location and date, UFC President Dana White recently shed a bit more light on it.
During the “Contender Series” post-event press conference, the outspoken head honcho indicated that the fight will probably co-headline the upcoming UFC 254 pay-per-view (PPV) event on October 24, 2020, which is set to feature a 155-pound title unification match between division king, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and current interim champion Justin Gaethje.
When asked about the possibility of that happening, White thought about it for a second and answered “probably,” before smiling at his short answer.
If this comes to pass, it would be a kick to the face to have both Khabib and Ferguson competing on the same card and not against each other after five failed attempts to make the fight happen. That said, should something unfortunate happen to Gaethje in the days leading up to the fight where he is unable to compete, UFC could very well throw “El Cucuy” in there against “The Eagle.” Another downside would be that the fight would only be for three rounds.
Of course, it would make more sense to have Ferguson vs Poirier headline an event the same week — also on “Fight Island” — in order to make it a five-round fight while still having the option to pull either fighter from the event and into UFC 254 headlining duties if needed.
UFC 254 is expected to go down inside Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates as the promotion prepares for its next extended stay on “Fight Island” following a successful couple of weeks this past July.