The long-awaited fight between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson is finally happening. Nurmagomedov and Ferguson will main event an upcoming UFC pay-per-view at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on April 18, according to ESPN's Brett Okamoto.
Nurmagomedov reportedly signed his contract earlier in the week with Ferguson agreeing to terms on Friday.
This fight between Nurmagomedov (28-0) and Ferguson (25-3) has been a long time coming. Injuries and other obstacles have led to four prior bookings between the fighters being cancelled from 2015-18.
Nurmagomedov, who won the then-vacant UFC lightweight championship in April 2018, is 12-0 in UFC with consecutive headline-making submission victories over Conor McGregor at UFC 229 that October and Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 this September.
Ferguson is on a 12-fight winning streak dating back to October 2013. He was the interim lightweight champion in 2017 but was stripped of his title when he was expected to fight Nurmagomedov in April 2018 and suffered a freak knee injury while making the media rounds. He is coming off consecutive TKO victories over Anthony Pettis at UFC 229 and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone at UFC 238 in June.
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