Will the fifth time be the charm for [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag]?
If UFC president Dana White has his way, the most elusive MMA fight of this generation will go down at an as-yet unnamed event on April 18 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
According to a Monday report by UFC promotional partner ESPN, White said the company hopes to book the fight as the main event for a pay-per-view card at Barclays Center. Neither fighter has commented yet on the potential fight date.
Four times from 2015-18, the UFC attempted to make the bout between Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC), the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, and Ferguson, who has won 12 consecutive fights.
Twice, Nurmagomedov withdrew from the planned matchup. The second time, at UFC 209, he was pulled from his weight cut the day of a planned interim title fight. Ferguson later won the interim belt in a matchup against Kevin Lee at UFC 216.
[lawrence-related id=462675,461864,455496]
Ferguson (25-3 MMA, 15-1 UFC) also pulled out twice from planned meetings. In his case, a fluke knee injury suffered on the FOX lot in Los Angeles a week before his planned UFC 223 championship fight with Nurmagomedov in Brooklyn kicked off a chain reaction of events which included Conor McGregor’s infamous van attack and ended with Nurmagomedov defeating Al Iaquinta.
Nurmagomedov last competed at UFC 242, where he submitted Dustin Poirier to retain his title. Ferguson’s last win was over Anthony Pettis at UFC 229, the co-feature to Nurmagomedov’s main-event win over Conor McGregor.
Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, posted on his Instagram account a portion of a signed contract on his fighter’s end.
[vertical-gallery id=437333]
[vertical-gallery id=390685]