Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson set for UFC 249 at Barclays Center
Khabib Nurmagomedov fights Dustin Poirier in their lightweight title bout at UFC 242 at The Arena in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 7. Credit: Getty Images/Francois Nel
The Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight is now as official as a Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight possibly can be this far away from the top two lightweights actually making it into the UFC’s octagon.
The UFC confirmed at a news conference Friday in Las Vegas that Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight title against Ferguson at UFC 249 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 18. The bout has been widely reported for several weeks.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been scheduled to fight each other four previous times, and each time the bout fell apart either because of injury or a weight cut gone wrong.
Nurmagomedov (28-0) won the lightweight title in April 2018 at Barclays Center when he beat Wantagh’s Al Iaquinta by unanimous decision. He made his first title defense against Conor McGregor later that October and won via submission. However, McGregor was the first fighter to win a round against the Russian mauler.
Ferguson (25-3) is on a 12-fight win streak and is a former interim lightweight champion.
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
