Dana White Confirms Ferguson vs. Khabib Will Happen At UFC 223

Yesterday, a report surfaced that interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov would face off for the unified title at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

Today, it appears that has been confirmed by UFC president Dana White. In Boston for this weekend’s UFC 220 pay-per-view event from TD Garden, White told the Toucher & Rich morning show that the fight was on for UFC 223:

“That fight is going to happen. It will happen.”

Sources also confirmed to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that the fight would take place at UFC 223; however, nothing was confirmed in regards to what version of the lightweight title would be on the line, as the previous report stated it would be for the unified title after the UFC stripped current champion Conor McGregor due to inactivity.

For what it’s worth, White did not address that situation on Toucher & Rich.

If and when Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov is confirmed, it will mark an incredible fourth time the two have been scheduled to fight each other without it actually happening. The first two fell apart due to an injury from each fighter, then the most anticipated iteration of the bout was canceled when Nurmagomedov infamously missed weight and was hospitalized prior to the most recent scheduling at 2017’s UFC 209.

Both fighters have continued to maintain success at the highest levels since, with Ferguson winning the interim belt against Kevin Lee at UFC 216, while Khabib recently returned to the octagon with a dominant destruction of Edson Barboza at December 30’s UFC 219.

Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov is expected to be announced during UFC 220 this weekend, and a women’s strawweight title rematch between Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk is expected to serve as the co-headliner, although it has not been officially confirmed yet.