Is Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov ever going to happen? For the fourth time the paid have been set to face each other inside the octagon and once again it's off, this time Ferguson being the man to back out.
It's a hell of a weekend for sport next weekend and one of the highlights was supposed to be the UFC 223 main event with American Tony Ferguson taking on Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title, that's yet to actually officially be stripped from Conor McGregor.
Ferguson is currently the interim champion for the belt and was set to face undefeated Khabib for the title but that honour will now fall to Max Holloway, the current holder of the featherweight title, ironically a belt he picked up after McGregor was forced to hand over.
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Dana White and UFC announced the news on Twitter:
It is the fourth year in a row that Ferguson and Khabib have been meant to meet. Khabib pulled out of injury in 2015 and a bad weight cut prevented him from fighting last year whilst a lung problem did for Ferguson in 2016 and he confirmed on social media this time it's a knee problem:
Check out our interview with Conor McGregor:
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The news initially broke overnight in England when it was still April 1st in the US with reporter Ariel Helwani having to tell fans on Twitter that his news was not an April Fools joke.
It really is unfortunate luck for both men who are just desperate to fight each other.
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For Khabib and Holloway it presents a chance they may not have expected. At one point Khabib and Ferguson looked like an eliminator to fight McGregor whilst Holloway could follow in the Irishman's footsteps and become a dual weight champ.
It's still going to be a very good weekend of sport, it's just not exactly what we expected.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC News, Max Holloway, Tony Ferguson, UFC, MMA
