In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC is doing everything in its power to make UFC 249 happen – and thus save the long-anticipated megafight between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former interim champ Tony Ferguson finally happen.
The company announced Monday that all events through April 11 are canceled. UFC 249 is scheduled for April 18 but will not be held at Barclays Center in New York, where it was originally slated, and likely not anywhere in the U.S.
As far as the defending champ is concerned, though, he’s willing to go wherever they’ll be allowed, so long as he’s able to fight.
“Honestly I don’t care,” Nurmagomedov said Tuesday during an Instagram live chat hosted by his manager, Ali Abdelaziz. “It’s going to be good if fight happens in the U.S. because I am here already for like one-and-a-half month. I’ve been training, and from this day we have like 30 days before the fight. Almost one month, and it’s going to be very good if we fight here in the U.S. But if not, any place. Any place, I don’t care.”
Nurmagomedov acknowledged that health is of the utmost importance. But he also said that if he and Ferguson (25-3 MMA, 15-1 UFC) and their families are healthy then the event should continue, limited to 100 people in a closed-door facility.
“The most important thing is to be healthy,” Nurmagomedov said. “If we’re healthy, our family is healthy – this is the most important thing right now. We have to take care of ourselves. But if we’re healthy, OK, on this card, we have 13 fights. That’s 26 fighters and their corner. If they’re healthy and the UFC people who make show, like judges, athletic commission and everything – we need maximum 100 people inside the arena. Close the arena, 100 healthy people come inside and make the show. Put the camera, turn on pay-per-view, and all of us can make money. Everyone can fight.”
Nurmagomedov also sees the fight as a reason to entertain fans stuck at home, many of whom are expected to be under quarantine.
“People who have quarantine and sit home, they have fun, they watch fights,” he said. “Fighters go to the arena, they have fun, they do their job. I think we just need maximum 100 people to make this fight. One arena and 100 healthy people around and put a couple camera and show this around the world – the two best lightweights of all time. This is a very important fight.”
At the end of the day, Nurmagomedov understands what’s going on in the world, but he wants nothing more than to settle the longstanding questions on whom is the better fighter. And he expects to hear about a location from UFC president Dana White soon.
“Right now I am in my training camp since December,” the champ said. “January, February and now March, I hope the fight is going to happen. This is a very important fight, because the lightweight division have to move. We have to move. I don’t want – right now in lightweight division there’s a couple guys with six-win streak, seven-win streak. A lot of contenders come. I don’t want to hang the lightweight division. We do fight with Tony Ferguson, and we have to know who is the next contender.
“This is very important. Not just for me, for the UFC, for the fans – this is very important for the lightweight division. This is why I really want to fight with him. We have to fight, and I think the next couple days – yesterday I talked with Dana – Dana say they’re going to do everything that they can to keep this fight. We’ll see. Next couple days Dana is going to send us location.”
Khabib Numagomedov: 'Any place, I don't care' where Tony Ferguson fight happens
