Is a lightweight matchup between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson cursed?
The fight has been booked on four separate occasions but both men have never made the walk to the cage.
Nurmagomedov is hoping the curse wears off after UFC 229, as the undefeated Dagestani would like to defend his lightweight title against ‘El Cucuy’ after he disposes of Conor McGregor on Oct. 6.
With that said, ‘The Eagle’ isn’t so sure Ferguson will be able to get past Pettis, a former WEC and UFC champion, in the UFC 229 co-main event.
Speaking to Brian Vega in a recent interview, Nurmagomedov questioned Ferguson’s recovery after his latest injury and stated that Pettis is a ‘very bad’ stylistic matchup for the former interim lightweight champ.
“I hope he going to win,” Nurmagomedov said of Ferguson (h/t Tom Taylor of BJPenn.com). “But my opinion, this fight is stylistically little bit bad matchup for Tony Ferguson. I don’t know how he feel after he is injured. He is [34] years old. He come back after injury. If he wins, it’s going to be big fight next year. One more biggest fight in UFC history. Let’s go.”
Khabib could have a point, as Pettis is a very unorthodox striker and could give Ferguson all kinds of problems in the stand-up and grappling departments. Stylistically, both fighters are very similar, although Ferguson has the momentum behind him with a 10-fight win streak.
Pettis is 3-2 in his last five fights and recently submitted Michael Chiesa at UFC 226. ‘Showtime’ took home a Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts.
The upcoming UFC 229 pay-per-view, which features both Khabib vs. McGregor and Ferguson vs. Pettis as the two headlining bouts, takes place next month, October 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
