It’s official.
UFC Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov will defend his title against former interim champion Tony Ferguson on April 19th in Brooklyn. If you’re an OG fan of these two, you’ll know this matchup has been scheduled multiple times, but injuries and illness have seen it derailed, again and again, causing frustration amongst fans for what is a seemingly dream match up.
To be specific, this is the fifth time these two men have been set to meet.
Khabib is running at 28-0, most recently submitting Dustin Poirier in the third round at UFC 242 in September 2019. Ferguson is the current number one lightweight challenger in the UFC’s official rankings, improving his record to 25-3 after earning a second-round TKO victory over Donald Cerrone at UFC 238 in June.
While the matchup was essentially a ‘done deal’ since November, the UFC gave its first official confirmation on social media with the message accompanying the post-reading ‘What time is it?’ in a nod to the Russian’s famous phrase ‘Khabib time’.
Ferguson is on a 12-fight streak spanning seven years and is aiming to become the very first man to beat 28-0 champion, Khabib, who last defended his title against Dustin Poirier in ABu Dhabi in September. Although still undefeated, Khabib isn’t taking his training any easier. Going on record in saying he’ll step up his training for this bout with Ferguson, as his father and trainer has called it ‘one of the most important fights in UFC history’.
To add to the lineup, in breaking news the UFC has JUST announced that Rose Namajunas will make her Octagon return against Jessica Andrade in the strawweight division.
These two fighters squared off against each other last year in May at UFC 237, where Andrade emerged the winner and in doing so, became the UFC strawweight champion of the world. Namajunas dominated most of the fight but managed to slam a historic JO in the second round to win the match.
While Andrade went on to lose her title to Zhang Weili, Namajunas has been on the down-low, training hard hoping to come back bigger and stronger than ever. As these two former champions face-off, if Namajunas is able to win, she’s pipped to be the next title defence for the winner of the title bout between Weili vs Joanna, taking place in UFC 248.
Rounding out the card is Uriah Hall taking on Ronaldo Souza in the middleweight division.
Main Card showing live from 12 pm VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS, QLD | 11:30am SA NT | 10 am WA (undercard will show earlier). Watch here, live and free at your local.
MAIN CARD
Lightweight Title Bout
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson
UNDERCARD
Women’s Strawweight Bout
Rose Namajunas vs Jessica Andrade
Middleweight Bout
Uriah Hall vs Ronaldo Souza