Saturday night’s highly anticipated UFC interim Lightweight Championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson has officially been scrapped.
The bout was scheduled for tomorrow’s UFC 209 co-main event, with the winner expected to fight Conor McGregor to unify the belts.
Rumors were swirling around early Friday morning that Nurmagomedov had been taken to the hospital where he was given IV-fluids by UFC officials, putting his championship opportunity in question. Those rumors ended up being accurate.
Nurmagomedov was obligated to attend the official UFC 209 early weigh-ins and make weight by 2:00 PM EST, however, the Russian star never made it, forfeiting his chance at UFC gold in the process.
It was reported that if Nurmagomedov could make the weigh-ins he would be eligible to fight, even if missing weight, but only Ferguson could win the interim lightweight championship in that instance.
With the weigh-ins now officially over, the opportunity for a replacement opponent, unless from the undercard of UFC 209, is also now out of the question.
Stay tuned as the story develops.
