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Things are weirdly lining up as they were one year ago. Around this time last year, Khabib Nurmagomedov was expected to face Tony Ferguson at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center, only for it all to fall apart in the last week.
The Eagle subsequently faced and defeated Al Iaquinta to become the undisputed Lightweight Champion and half a year later, he defeated former Champion Conor McGregor in the most highly-watched fight in UFC and MMA history.
Less than a year later, he defeated a very difficult challenger in Dustin Poirier within three rounds after going through a bit of adversity, something that people haven't seen Nurmagomedov face. His next challenger, however, is believed to be his toughest one yet and the only man who many believe has a slight chance in defeating the dominant champion - Tony Ferguson.
The Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is currently in Uzbekistan, and in a media interview, spoke about his upcoming fight. He said (H/T+Translation @MMARuscontext on Twitter):
“Even if they(Vegas) apologize or not,we found a new venue for the fight. It’s going to be in Brooklyn most likely,im not sure about the date yet.We’re still discussing it with the UFC but it looks like it will happen at the begining of April.”
Following his controversial post-fight incident at UFC 229, Nurmagomedov was suspended for half a year and seems to have had a falling out with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he has since demanded an apology for them.
It's clear now that Nurmagomedov and Ferguson will be fighting in the same venue they were supposed to last year in the same period as well. All we can hope is that for the fifth time, things won't go awry and result in a cancellation. This is the fight to make and apart from Justin Gaethje, there's nobody in the UFC who deserves a title shot more than Tony Ferguson.
