Injuries. Weight-cutting issues. A poorly placed television production cable. A worldwide viral pandemic.
Five times now the UFC has tried to make the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. And five times a fight many consider could be one of the greatest in mixed martial arts history has fallen out.
The most recent episode was finalized Wednesday, when Nurmagomedov, the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, acknowledged on social media that he’s out of his planned UFC 249 title defense against Ferguson on April 18.
How has the UFC’s great white whale of a fight managed to elude us so many times?
Here’s a look back …
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The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale, Dec. 11, 2015: Numagomedov pulls out with injury
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson both were clearly stars on the rise when booked in a showcase fight at the TUF 22 Finale in Las Vegas, one night before Conor McGregor’s legendary 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo.
Ferguson, the “TUF 13” winner in 2011, was 9-1 in the UFC by this point, including six straight wins, most recently a thrilling brawl against former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson in San Diego. Numagomedov, for his part, had won six in a row, but was out more than a year with a knee injury. His most recent victory had been over Rafael dos Anjos, who had gone on to win the lightweight title in the meantime.
For the first fallout, an undisclosed Nurmagomedov injury caused him to pull out of the bout. Ferguson took on replacement Edson Barboza and took home both “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” for his second-round finish.
UFC on FOX 19, April 16, 2016: Ferguson pulls out with lung infection
Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson still was clearly the fight to make at 155, with the winner establishing himself on the short list for dos Anjos’ belt, along with featherweight champ McGregor and Eddie Alvarez.
So the fight was reset for a UFC on FOX event in Tampa, Fla., a few months down the road. This time, though, Ferguson came down with a lung infection, which caused a buildup of fluid and blood, and pulled out less than two weeks out. Nurmagomedov instead took on a game but overmatched replacement, Darrell Horcher, at a 160-pound catchweight and earned a second-round finish in his first bout in three days short of two years.
UFC 209, March 4, 2017: Nurmagomedov weigh-cut issues scrap interim title fight
In nearly one year between the second and third attempts to make the fight, the picture shifted dramatically in the lightweight division. Dos Anjos lost the belt to Alvarez, who lost it to McGregor, making him the UFC’s first champ-champ. McGregor then set about in his ultimately successful quest to land a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
It was against this backdrop that the UFC decided to make Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson an interim title fight. Ferguson had earned victories over Lando Vannata and dos Anjos in the interim, taking “Fight of the Night” both times. Nurmagomedov earned a punishing victory over Michael Johnson at UFC 205, ending in a third-round submission.
This time we got the closest we could to both fighters making it to the cage, as both got to Las Vegas and went through their fight-week obligations. The morning of the weigh-ins, however, came the bad news: Khabib had to be hospitalized when his weight cut went wrong, and the fight was scrapped.
UFC 223, April 7, 2018: All hell breaks loose – and it begins with a cable cord
The first three Nurmagomedov-Ferguson fight fallouts were pretty standard for the MMA world. The fourth time, however, cemented the idea this fight is truly cursed.
Ferguson had gone on to defeat Kevin Lee to win the interim title at UFC 216, using a third-round submission to get the job done. Khabib was set to meet Ferguson at UFC 223 for the undisputed title. But just eight days before the card, during a media tour of Los Angeles, Ferguson tripped over a production cable on the FOX lot and blew out his knee, forcing him to withdraw from the bout two days later – on April Fool’s Day no less.
Featherweight champion Max Holloway volunteered to take the bout on six days’ notice. On Wednesday of fight week, UFC president Dana White said McGregor, who had yet to defend his belt, would be stripped of the title, making the Nurmagomedov-Holloway winner the true champion. One day later, a furious McGregor showed up at a UFC 223 media day in the New York with accomplices and attacked a van carrying several fighters, including Nurmagomedov.
On weigh-in day, Holloway was ruled unfit by the New York State Athletic Commission and was pulled from the fight. Al Iaquinta, who was set to fight Paul Felder, stepped in. But he missed championship weight, making only Khabib eligible for the title. Which he won in a one-sided unanimous decision.
Ferguson now was the odd man. The momentum shifted to Nuramagomedov vs. McGregor, which Nurmagomedov winning by fourth-round submission at UFC 229.
UFC 249, April 18, 2020: Pandemic brings halt to fight
A few months ago, the idea that it would take something like a worldwide pandemic to stop Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson would have seemed like a snappy one-liner, but here we are.
The stars finally seemed to align this time. Nurmagomedov returned from his suspension due to a post-fight brawl with McGregor’s corner and defeated Dustin Poirier at UFC 242. Ferguson continued his string of exciting bouts with “Fight of the Night” performances in wins over Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, bringing his winning streak to 12.
Then came the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, which has all but shut down the sports world. New York, which was set to host UFC 249, banned public gatherings, as it tries to respond to the worst outbreak of the virus in the U.S. and perhaps the world. The UFC, whose parent company Endeavor is under major debt-service pressure, continues to try to find ways to hold the event, but the options become increasingly limited with each day.
On Wednesday, Nurmagomedov formally pulled out of the bout, citing the basic health and safety concerns used by every sports organization on the planet except for his promotion.
“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 quarantinem,” Khabib said. “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 (I am) 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.”
As of now, the show is still on, and the UFC will attempt to find Ferguson another opponent.
