When Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson was canceled twice on April Fools' Day

UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov was a dominant force in the lightweight division during his time in the promotion. He took on and successfully defeated multiple top contenders, but the one matchup that never materialized is the one against Tony Ferguson.

The UFC's repeated attempts at booking the two fighters against each other included the matchup for Nurmagomedov's first title shot at UFC 223. However, the long-awaited bout against 'El Cucuy' was yet again marred by similar circumstances.

Funnily enough, just days ahead of UFC 223's scheduled April 7 date, on April 1 (April Fools' Day), Ariel Helwani broke the news of Ferguson's injury and subsequent withdrawal from the title showdown.

The date of the report had fans doubting Helwani and many took it for an April Fools' joke. He was forced to clarify in a follow-up post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

A similar situation repeated itself two years later, when Nurmagomedov was slated to defend his title for a third time against Ferguson. However, this time it was the COVID-19 pandemic that halted the world and shut down any possibility of live events such as UFC 249 from taking place.

Nurmagomedov took to Instagram on April Fools' Day to explain his situation and questioned why, with the world at a standstill, fans still expected him to travel from Dagestan, Russia, and fight.

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A timeline of all the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson bookings that fell through

The infamous Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson matchup was booked a total of five times. With the reasons for the last two discussed above, let's take a look at the first three times these lightweights were supposed to face off.

The UFC first booked them against each other in 2015 at the TUF 22 finale, but Nurmagomedov withdrew due to a rib injury that derailed his momentum greatly. 'The Eagle' was ranked No. 3 at the time compared to Ferguson's No.8 ranking, but it took him another three years to fight for the title.

Their next bout was scheduled for UFC on FOX 19 and it was a lung issue that forced Ferguson out of the fight. The third attempt at booking the two came in 2017 at UFC 209. However, a failed weight cut resulted in Nurmagomedov falling ill and the bout was canceled.