UFC 249: Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje Now Confirmed

UFC

— 7 April 2020

WORDS

Garry Lu

WORDS BY
Garry Lu

Surprised? Yeah – me neither. It seems the cursed match up between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will continue to blue ball MMA fans the world over a little over, with this latest development representing cancellation number five. The revised headline fight? UFC 249: Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje as confirmed by Dana White himself.

The fight is signed and is 100% ON LIVE on ESPN somewhere on EARTH!!!! ?@TonyFergusonXT vs @Justin_Gaethje is LIVE on @espn+ PPV April 18th for the interim lightweight belt! pic.twitter.com/aH44zg5K30
— danawhite (@danawhite) April 6, 2020

Nurmagomedov has pulled out in light of COVID-19. The Dagestani national expressed some concerns regarding the health and safety risks, as well as citing Russia’s travel restrictions as the final nail in the coffin.

Regardless of the reason, as of now, a 25-3 Ferguson will face a 20-2 Gaethje in what will undoubtedly be a slugfest for the ages. Something sure to delight UFC fans everywhere given the cancellation of the last two Fight Night events in addition to the upcoming cancellation of the Fight Night event (originally scheduled for April 11th). In other words – they’re crying out for blood.

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Staying home in quarantine and reading the reaction of people to the situation around my fight, it turns out that the whole world should be in quarantine, governments of all countries, famous people around the world urge people to follow all safety requirements in order to limit the spread of the disease, to save people, and Khabib is the only one relieved of all obligations and must demonstrate free will and train flying around the world, for the sake of fight? – I understand everything and I’m definitely upset more than you to cancel the fight, probably like all others, I had many plans after the fight, but I can’t control it all. The greatest countries and the largest companies of our time are shocked by what is happening, every day the situation changes unpredictably. But Khabib still has to fight, is that what you saying? – Take care of yourself and put yourself in my shoes. – ? Сижу дома на карантине и читаю реакцию людей на ситуацию вокруг моего боя, получается весь мир должен сидеть на карантине, правительства всех стран и известные люди всего мира призывают людей соблюдать требования безопасности, чтоб ограничить распространение болезни ради спасения людей, а Хабиб, освобождён от всех обязательств и должен демонстрировать свободу воли и тренироваться летая по всему миру рискуя своей жизнью ради боя ? – Я все понимаю и точно не меньше вас расстроен отменой боя, наверно у меня , как и у всех других, было много планов после боя, но я не в силах контролировать все это. Сверх державы и крупнейшие компании нашего времени в шоке от того, что происходит, каждый день ситуация меняется непредсказуемо. Но Хабиб все равно должен драться, так получается? – Берегите себя и поставьте себя на мое место.

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Apr 1, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

UFC 249: Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje will be hosted at a yet-to-be-secured West Coast venue, having initially been booked for Brooklyn. As far as anyone is concerned, the rest of the card is currently the same. And as far as anyone is concerned, it will currently go down on April 19th.

Fingers crossed we don’t get the carpet pulled out from under us again.

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Garry Lu

After stretching his legs with companies such as The Motley Fool and the odd marketing agency, Garry joined Boss Hunting in 2019 as a fully-fledged Content Specialist. In 2021, he was promoted to News Editor. Garry proudly retains a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black bruises from Muay Thai, as well as a black belt in all things pop culture. Drop him a line at [email protected]