UFC on FOX 19, April 16, 2016: Ferguson pulls out with lung infection
Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson still was clearly the fight to make at 155, with the winner establishing himself on the short list for dos Anjos’ belt, along with featherweight champ McGregor and Eddie Alvarez.
So the fight was reset for a UFC on FOX event in Tampa, Fla., a few months down the road. This time, though, Ferguson came down with a lung infection, which caused a buildup of fluid and blood, and pulled out less than two weeks out. Nurmagomedov instead took on a game but overmatched replacement, Darrell Horcher, at a 160-pound catchweight and earned a second-round finish in his first bout in three days short of two years.
UFC 209, March 4, 2017: Nurmagomedov weigh-cut issues scrap interim title fight
In nearly one year between the second and third attempts to make the fight, the picture shifted dramatically in the lightweight division. Dos Anjos lost the belt to Alvarez, who lost it to McGregor, making him the UFC’s first champ-champ. McGregor then set about in his ultimately successful quest to land a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
It was against this backdrop that the UFC decided to make Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson an interim title fight. Ferguson had earned victories over Lando Vannata and dos Anjos in the interim, taking “Fight of the Night” both times. Nurmagomedov earned a punishing victory over Michael Johnson at UFC 205, ending in a third-round submission.
This time we got the closest we could to both fighters making it to the cage, as both got to Las Vegas and went through their fight-week obligations. The morning of the weigh-ins, however, came the bad news: Khabib had to be hospitalized when his weight cut went wrong, and the fight was scrapped.
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