Ufc 209 Khabib Replacement

• Ufc Khabib Vs Tony
• Ufc 209 Khabib Vs Ferguson
• Ufc Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Ufc 209 Khabib

Khabib was scheduled to face Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title at UFC 209, but the fight fell through after ‘The Eagle’ had to be hospitalized because of issues with his weight cut. Khabib Nurmagomedov was supposed to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the best fighters in the UFC right now and everyone wants a shot at him. His latest challenger for.

Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler has signed with the UFC, and while he doesn’t have a fight yet, his first could be epic.

UFC president Dana White on Thursday said on “SportsCenter” on UFC broadcast partner ESPN that Chandler (21-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is now in the UFC and that he will serve as a backup and potential replacement for the UFC 254 main event between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) and interim champ Justin Gaethje (22-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC).

UFC 254 takes place Oct. 24 at “Fight Island” on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, White confirmed. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

After his signing was announced, Chandler told <a href='Chandler became a free agent after his knockout win over former UFC and WEC lightweight champ Benson Henderson at Bellator 243 in early August. He hinted multiple times after that fight that he might wind up in the UFC, and now it has come to fruition. In addition, White said he was impressed with him after a conversation with the 34-year-old fighter.Chandler fought for Strikeforce in 2009-2010, then went to Bellator, where he spent nearly 10 years. He won the lightweight title in 2011 against Eddie Alvarez, but lost it to him in a rematch in 2013. That split decision started a three-fight slide that included two attempts to get the belt back against Will Brooks.In 2016, he beat Patricky Freire to win the then-vacant title. HE lost it to Brent Primus in 2017, but beat Primus in a rematch to get it back and become a three-time champion. But in his first defense, he lost it to Patricio Freire, who was featherweight champion at the time, in May 2019.He finished his Bellator run with back-to-back first-round knockouts of Sidney Outlaw and Henderson.Nurmagomedov will be fighting for the first time in more than a year, and for the first time since the death of his father, who also served as his coach, earlier this year. In September 2019, he beat interim champ Dustin Poirier in a title unification bout in Abu Dhabi. A fifth attempt at a fight with Tony Ferguson then was planned for April, but scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Former WSOF champ Gaethje came to the UFC in 2017 and promptly picked up a double bonus for a knockout of Michael Johnson. But then he lost the first two fights of his career, both by knockout, to Alvarez and Poirier. Since then, though, he has rebounded with four straight knockout wins against James Vick, Edson Barboza, Donald Cerrone and, most recently, Tony Ferguson to win the interim lightweight belt. He has post-fight bonuses in each of his seven UFC bouts – including two double bonuses for a total of nine overall.

Conor McGregor took the dramatic decision last week to retire from the fight game for the third time.

Having witnessed 'Notorious' return to the cage having said he never would again in 2016 and 2019, MMA fans around the world understandably took his announcement with a pinch of salt.

But McGregor, who most recently fought in January, seemed dead set on the idea of hanging up his gloves when he conducted an interview with ESPN the day after his retirement.

'The game just does not excite me, and that's that,' McGregor stated. 'All this waiting around. There's nothing happening. I'm going through opponent options, and there's nothing really there at the minute.

'There's nothing that's exciting me. They should have just kept the ball rolling. I mean, why are they pushing [Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje] back to September?

McGregor retires in frustration

'You know what's going to happen in September, something else is going to happen in September, and that's not going to happen. Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power.'

It's easy to understand McGregor's frustration at the lack of momentum in his recent career, but it goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of people's hands.

Plus, it had long been speculated that McGregor - as opposed to Justin Gaethje - was due to be the replacement fighter if Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson fell through at UFC 249.

Ufc Khabib Vs Tony

McGregor rejected UFC 249 fight

Of course, that was the case with Nurmagomedov being stranded in Russia and it was assumed that McGregor would face similar difficulties in trying to travel out of Ireland.

But in a revelation that casts McGregor's retirement in new light, Dana White has confirmed that 'Notorious' was given the opportunity to take Nurmagomedov's place at UFC 249.

In other words, he could have had a shot at Ferguson that, had he won, could have teed up the rematch with Nurmagomedov that he so badly desired after losing in 2018.

Per the Daily Mail, White told First Take: 'Conor had the opportunity to slide into that spot [at UFC 249] if Khabib or Tony fell out. He came back and said 'I'm not a replacement fight. I'm not gonna do it.'

'He would be in that position right now if he took the fight. He didn't. Gaethje did. So Gaethje gets it.'

As a fight fan, it makes for a tough read and you have to believe that McGregor had more reasoning than not wanting to be a 'replacement fight'.

What next for McGregor?

Sure, we were still blessed with an absolute slugfest in Gaethje vs Ferguson, but we're inclined to think McGregor would have been most people's first choice for the initial replacement.

Ufc 209 Khabib Vs Ferguson

Ferguson vs McGregor has been an appetising prospect for years but most of all, seeing whether the latter would be successful in a second hunt for Nurmagomedov would have been fascinating.

Ufc Khabib Nurmagomedov

We're just going to have to keep our fingers crossed that McGregor hasn't genuinely retired having been offered an opportunity for two incredible fights we might never get to see.

Ufc 209 Khabib