Khabib Nurmagomedov teammate Zubaira Tukhugov is officially off the UFC Muncton card. Tukhugov was a part of the chaotic brawl that took place at UFC 229; The featherweight’s fate in the company is currently in the air as Dana White previously stated that anyone involved with the incident would be fired.
However, Nurmagemedov since shot back and stated that if White fired Tukhugov then the UFC President can forget about him ever competing in the UFC octagon again. While it's still unknown what the future holds for Tukhugov in the UFC, he definitely won’t be fighting at the October 27th UFC Moncton card against McGregor teammate Artem Lobov.
However, a more notable and arguably tougher opponent has replaced the featherweight as Artem Lobov will now face Michael Johnson. The match-up was announced by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Sunday night.
Lobov is on a two-fight losing streak as his previous losses come from Cub Swanson and Andre Fili. Despite previous wins against the likes of Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier, Johnson's transition to the featherweight division has been a mixed bag thus far.
His fight against Darren Elkins in his featherweight debut resulted in a loss; however, In August, Johnson returned and got his first win at 145 pounds against Andre Fili in a hard fought split decision. Lobov and Johnson will fight in the co-main of the event headlined by light heavyweight contenders Volkan Oezdemir vs. Anthony Smith.