Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight still possible, says Dana White

UFC President Dana White says a fight between lightweight stars Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson is still possible.

For many years, a fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson stood out as one of the biggest the UFC could make—and the promotion certainly tried. White and his matchmaking team attempted a whopping five times to make this matchup happen, but every time, it failed to come to fruition.

Eventually, after the fifth attempt at the matchup fell through due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC booked Ferguson for a fight with Justin Gaethje. Ferguson lost that fight via fifth-round TKO, which spelled the end of his 12-fight unbeaten streak, and diminished much of the hype surrounding a fight with the undefeated Nurmagomedov.

However, White says he’d still consider making the fight if Ferguson wins his next fight and Nurmagomedov gets by Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on October 24.

“If Khabib does beat Gaethje, you get Tony Ferguson another fight, which we’re working on right now,” White told Sports Illustrated. “And hopefully that fight with Khabib happens because I know people want to see it.”

While White is still eager to make a fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov happen, he does seem to have a degree of paranoia about the matchup.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight fall apart as many times as those two,” he said. “It almost scares me to make the fight again. What’s going to happen? An asteroid comes to earth? That’s the level of bad this thing is.”

As aforementioned, Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 later this month. Ferguson, meanwhile, is ready to return to the cage, but after a rumored fight with Dustin Poirier fell apart, is still without a dance partner.

Do you think we’ll ever see Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson fight?