UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov will not be leaving his native Russia to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on April 18.
Since Nurmagomedov announced this decision, many members of the MMA community — including Ferguson and Conor McGregor — have accused him of bailing on the fight.
Not so, says Nurmagomedov.
Speaking during a Thursday Instagram Live session, the champ elaborated on why he will not be fighting on the 18. He says it simply doesn’t make sense to leave home amid a global pandemic for a fight card that still doesn’t have an official location.
“I want to fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “But the UFC has no location. Europe, US, Asia… they never send location. So how is this to happen? Fly to where? This is what happened. No location.
“All gate is closed,” Nurmagomedov added, touching on the extreme difficulty of international travel. “US gate. Russian gate. Everyone is told to stay home for quarantine. The number one thing that drive me crazy about this is people say I pull out. How do I pull out when there is no gate? No location? This I don’t understand.”
It’s hard to argue with the champ on this one.
This is not the first time Nurmagomedov has commented on this issue. On Wednesday, he officially announced that he won’t be able to compete on the UFC 249 card in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram.
UFC star Charles Oliveira has promised a big performance when he goes head to head with Ilia Topuria at UFC 317.
As announced earlier this week, Charles Oliveira will challenge for the UFC lightweight championship once again. He will do so in the main event of UFC 317 against Ilia Topuria, who has officially made the move up to the lightweight division. While everyone knows that ‘Do Bronx’ has a chance, Topuria is widely considered to be the favorite to walk away with the belt in this encounter.
UFC star Ilia Topuria has issued an apology ahead of his recently announced UFC 317 main event against Charles Oliveira.
As we know, Ilia Topuria is making the move up to lightweight in pursuit of a second world title. Now, we also know that he’s going to be challenging for the championship straight away. He’ll lock horns with Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317, and many believe he has a great chance at winning the title. Of course, getting through someone like ‘Do Bronx’ is going to be no easy task, and Ilia knows that.
Alexander Volkanovski is the latest fighter to question the judges after Jose Aldo’s controversial defeat at UFC 315.
Last weekend, Jose Aldo competed for what was likely the final time in mixed martial arts. He squared off against Aiemann Zahabi in a brutal encounter and in the end, he lost via decision. While some thought it was a fair call from the judges, a lot of fans and pundits alike heavily questioned it, suggesting that Jose was the clear winner of the contest.
Jack Hermansson will finally make his return to the Octagon at UFC 317 at the end of June.
Hermansson last fought in February of 2024 when he beat Joe Pyfer by decision in a five-round main event. After that fight, Hermansson suffered some injuries that forced him to be on the sidelines and not be able to fight.
UFC CEO Dana White has plenty of confidence that Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall will happen.
White announced the UFC 317 and UFC 319 main events, and neither is Jones defending his heavyweight title. Many fans were hoping Jones vs Aspinall would headline the International Fight Week on June 29 in Las Vegas, but that won’t happen as White announced the main event would be Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira.
UFC CEO Dana White has officially announced Ilia Topuria will take on Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
International Fight Week is always one of the biggest events of the year, but the promotion had yet to announce the headliner. A key reason why was that Islam Makhachev, the lightweight champion, wanted to see how the main event played out, as if Jack Della Maddalena beat Belal Muhammad, he would be moving up to welterweight.
Dricus Du Plessis is finally set to defend the UFC middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev.
The two fighters will meet in the main event of UFC 319, which is slated for August 16, according to the promotion’s CEO Dana White.
