Tony Ferguson has a chance to become the first fighter in UFC history to be crowned interim champion twice.
Perhaps not the record he was aiming for, but after lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced to pull out of UFC 249 due to travel restrictions in Russia, Ferguson drew Justin Gaethje, and he still has a chance to win gold.
Ferguson (25-3 MMA, 15-1 UFC) captured the interim lightweight title in 2017 when he submitted Kevin Lee, but was later stripped of the title when he was forced out of his UFC 223 bout with Nurmagomedov due to injury.
Ferguson then scored back-to-back stoppage wins over Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, setting him up with a fifth booking against Nurmagomedov that has again been canceled. Instead, he faces the streaking Gaethje for another shot at an interim title.
Gaethje (21-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is enjoying his best run after stopping his last three opponents in the first round. He will get his first crack at UFC gold against Ferguson.
Check out the official UFC 249 poster below (via Twitter):
The latest UFC 249 lineup includes:
- Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje – for interim lightweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
- Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro
- Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price
- Calvin Kattar vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Uriah Hall vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Omar Morales
- Ray Borg vs. Marlon Vera
- Michael Johnson vs. Khama Worthy
- Sijara Eubanks vs. Sarah Moras
- Sam Alvey vs. Ryan Spann
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
