Dana White: Everyone Knew Khabib Nurmagomedov Was Not Fighting

It appears UFC president Dana White knew all along that Khabib Nurmagomedov would not be competing against Tony Ferguson later this month.

Nurmagomedov confirmed Wednesday that he would be withdrawing from the UFC 249 headliner on April 18 to remain quarantined in Russia amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It would have appeared to have been a big blow for White considering how insistent he was in making sure UFC 249 goes ahead. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case as he knew “The Eagle” would not be competing.

“Everyone knew he’s not fighting,” White told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole in a text message.

So if that was the case, why did White not saying anything? Like he remained coy about the location of UFC 249, White still doesn’t plan on confirming anything to the media — that includes plans for a new main event.

“I’m not telling the media anything about the details of the fight,” he added.

For now, we do have some idea as to what the new main event could be. Ferguson has been offered Justin Gaethje has a replacement opponent.

However, “El Cucuy” doesn’t seem too keen on the idea of fighting anyone other than Nurmagomedov or Conor McGregor.

The next few days will certainly be interesting.

What do you make of White’s response to Nurmagomedov’s withdrawal?