Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“…And hopefully that fight with Khabib happens because I know people want to see it.”
Sixth time lucky?
UFC president Dana White is already working on booking another matchup between reigning lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and former interim titleholder Tony Ferguson despite the fight being cancelled five times in previous bookings and ‘The Eagle’ currently slated to face Justin Gaethje in a lightweight title unification bout at UFC 254.
White knows fans still want to see the matchup and is hopeful the fight will come together if Khabib can get past Gaethje at UFC 254.
“If Khabib does beat Gaethe, you get Tony Ferguson another fight, which we’re working on right now,” White told Sports Illustrated in a recent interview. “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. 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.”
The last time Nurmagomedov and Ferguson were scheduled to meet was at UFC 249, but Khabib was forced to pull out at the last minute due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions in Russia. Ferguson was then slated to meet Justin Gaethje as a late replacement but lost the fight via fifth-round TKO.
UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje takes place later this month, Oct. 24 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.