UFC president Dana White announced on Monday via Twitter that Justine Gaethje will now fight Tony Ferguson in the main event match at UFC 249. The pay-per-view event, which White said is "100%" on, will take place on April 18, although the location remains undisclosed. White tweeted that the fight will be "somewhere on EARTH."
UFC 249 was supposed to feature the highly anticipated lightweight title fight between current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and challenger Tony Ferguson. However, travel issues related to the coronavirus pandemic prevented Nurmagomedov from participating in the fight. As a result, Ferguson will now face Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title.
The UFC had previously postponed events throguh April 11, but Dana White was adamant about putting on UFC 249, despite health warnings and social gathering restrictions pertaining to coronavirus. ESPN's Ariel Helwani reports that the UFC is targeting a venue on the West Coast. The fight will most likely take place in front of no fans.
Ferguson (25-3) has won 12 straight fights and has not lost since 2012. In that span, he has knocked off Rafael dos Anjos, Kevin Lee, Anthony Pettis, and most recently Donald Cerrone. Gaethje (21-2) has won three straight fights, with wins over James Vick, Edson Barboza, and Donald Cerrone.
While Ferguson versus Gaethje will undoubtedly be a treat for sports-starved fans, the fight everyone really wanted to see was Ferguson against Nurmagomedov. The long-awaited match-up between these two greats has been booked and fallen through five times now.