Not only does the fans see that the card for the next UFC PPV (pay-per-view) event is not filled with top names, but the UFC also sees that and with UFC 210 under a month away, the promotion is still seeking to add another big bout to the main card. However, it doesn’t seem like their efforts have been successful thus far as the promotion tried to get top contender Tony Ferguson on the card. They had two bouts in mind, but nothing came of it, according to Ariel Helwani.
Helwani noted on his official Twitter account that the UFC wanted to book Ferguson against Khabib Nurmagomedov or former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at the event.
Still only 4 fights listed on the UFC 210 PPV graphic. UFC did try to book Ferguson-Khabib & Ferguson-Alvarez for it this week but no luck.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 12, 2017
Although Helwani didn’t elaborate on why the bouts weren’t made, it does offer a glimpse into the UFC’s line of thinking. The promotion has been trying to book Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson for a while now and most recently at UFC 209, but the fight never happened due to Nurmagomedov pulling out of the bout at the last minute. Also, as you probably know, Alvarez has already been booked for a different fight, against Dustin Poirier at UFC 211.
Ferguson was very outspoken about his pay for UFC 209 and believes that he was owed his full show money from the UFC for making weight for the fight, which would have been for the interim lightweight title, but he ended up receiving less than half of that, so money could be an issue in terms of why the promotion didn’t book him on the card. That’s just speculation. It’s likely that we won’t see Ferguson fighting for a little bit.
UFC 210 takes place on April 8th at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. The night’s main card will air live on pay-per-view while the prelims will air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson for the light heavyweight title will headline this event.
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