It’s the fight hardcore mixed martial arts fans have been pining for.
Lightweight contenders Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are set to meet in the co-main event of UFC 209 on March 4 in Las Vegas — and there will be an interim title on the line.
The promotion made the announcement official late Thursday.
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have been the top two 155-pound contenders for quite some time. Russia’s Nurmagomedov is 24-0 in MMA and 8-0 in the UFC and coming off a submission win over Michael Johnson at UFC 205 in November. Meanwhile, the American Ferguson has racked up nine straight victorious including a dominant unanimous decision victory over former champion Rafael dos Anjos in November.
Current lightweight champion Conor McGregor is taking a temporary leave of absence as he is set to become a father for the first time (he also might be sidetracked with a potential boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr), so the UFC is introducing yet another interim title.
The UFC has been extremely liberal in handing out interim titles lately. Although UFC championship belts don’t carry as much clout as they once did, many fans are happy Nurmagomedov-Ferguson is a title fight because it means it will be a five-round bout instead of a three-round contest.
McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, posted this quality meme to Twitter shortly after the news was made official.
UFC 209 is scheduled to be headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Tyron Woodley and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.
Here is the tentative fight card to date:
— Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson
— Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson
— Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
— Darren Elkins vs. Mirsad Bektić
— Todd Duffee vs. Mark Godbeer
— Igor Pokrajac vs. Ed Herman
— Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur
— Iuri Alcantara vs. Luke Sanders
— Paul Craig vs. Tyson Pedro