UFC 254: ‘Nurmagomedov vs Gaethje’ Fight Card and Rumors

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Undisputed Lightweight Championship will be contested on October 24 at UFC 254 – location TBD.

Event: UFC 254: Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje
Date: Saturday, 24th October 2020
Location: TBD
Broadcast: ESPN+

“The Highlight” Justin Gaethje has been on quite the rise through the 155 pound division, and now, the interim champ will go head to head with one of the most dominant forces in the history of the UFC, Khabib Nurmagomedov, at UFC 254.

While the card still needs to be filled out, a handful of bouts have been confirmed – with a few others being heavily rumored. Thanks to Marcel Dorff of MMA DNA, we can check out which fights we can start looking forward to.

***Updated Schedule UFC Fights 8/28/20***#UFCVegas8 #UFCVegas9 #UFCVegas10 #UFCVegas11 #UFC253 #UFC254 #UFC255 #UFC256 pic.twitter.com/Ma9803fQnt

— MaRCeL DoRFF 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) August 28, 2020

UFC 254 Main Event

Lightweight Championship – Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje

UFC 254 Announced Bouts

• Middleweight – Robert Whittaker vs. Jared Cannonier
• Women’s Flyweight – Cynthia Calvillo vs. Lauren Murphy
• Heavyweight – Alexander Volkov vs. Walt Harris
• Lightweight – Rafael dos Anjos vs. Islam Makhachev
• Light Heavyweight – Da Un Jung vs. Sam Alvey
• Bantamweight – Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Sergey Morozov

UFC 254 Rumored Bout

• Featherweight – Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Yair Rodriguez

While Nurmagomedov will likely enter his UFC 254 fight with Gaethje as a betting favorite, the latter seems to have a pretty good idea of who he’s stepping into the Octagon to face in October.

“You gotta self-defense. Without the footwork, you can’t stay out of the fence,” Gaethje said on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. “If he is taking a shot in the open then he will drive you down to the fence. He’s not gonna attempt takedowns in the open. You watch all of his fights. You’ll maybe see five takedowns that he attempted in the middle of the cage. He’ll start in the middle but he is too pushy towards the cage.”

Gaethje also opened up on his game plan for Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 in a recent interview with ESPN.

“I’m so athletic,” he said. “The first thing to go when you get tired is your legs, so my legs, from now until then, I’m gonna be running a lot, jump rope a lot, a lot of step ups, squats.

“If my legs are in shape I don’t get tired,” Gaethje added. “If I don’t get tired I can get back up. If I can get back up, I can hit him like a truck. I only gotta kick him eight times in the calves before he’s compromised. There’s lot of factors. I’m gonna work on being me, stay in shape. It’s all cardio.”

Who do you think will come out on top in the UFC 254 main event?