It appears that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is cursed.
The UFC President has been adamant about the UFC Lightweight Championship bout taking place on April 18th; however, Nurmagomedov has just learned that the borders in Russia are locked and that he’ll be unable to travel to the UFC 249 location (Translation courtesy of RT Sport):
“We were training at AKA without any information regarding the fight, where and how is it going to happen. Then the UFC told us that the fight 100% isn’t happening in the States. And they said that 99% that it will happen in (United Arab) Emirates, Abu Dhabi. After talking to the UFC we decided to fly over to the Emirates a month before the fight. I don’t remember the exact date, it was 19th or 20th, I’ll have to check. But when we landed in Emirates we learned that they are going to close (the) borders and no one will be able to leave or fly in, with (the) exception of residents. So, we had to fly back to Russia.
Currently, I am in Dagestan and I am training and preparing every day, although I don’t know what am I preparing for. Because after we came to Russia we also learned that the borders are going to be locked. Same like in the States, same like in Europe, Emirates, everywhere.”
White has yet to officially cancel the fight; however, should the President scrap the lightweight bout then it will be the fifth time that the match-up between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov was axed from a UFC card.
The first two times Nurmagomedov pulled out was due to injury. Their planned bout at UFC 209 for the Interim Lightweight belt was nixed due to Nurmagomedov falling ill because of his massive weight cut. The fourth time was scheduled for UFC 223; however, Ferguson was forced to back out due to a fibular collateral ligament tear.
Ferguson responded to Nurmagomedov being unable to compete:
At the moment, speculation is that Justin Gaethje could step in and take on Ferguson. The UFC Lightweight Champ himself pegged Gaethje as the next contender for the 155-pound belt, so a battle between the top two contenders makes sense. As always, we’ll continue to report on the UFC 249 main event when more news passes along.