UFC President Dana White isn’t sure exactly when it will happen, but he can foresee a lightweight unification fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje taking place on Fight Island.
“I don’t know if it will be the first one, but it will be on Fight Island, unless miraculously the world comes back together faster than I think it’s gonna,” White told ESPN 1000 in Chicago.
Gaethje won the interim title and the right to face Nurmagomedov for the unification fight after battering Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 last weekend.
As ESPN reports:
Nurmagomedov was originally scheduled to fight Ferguson on April 18 in Brooklyn, New York, but as the coronavirus pandemic changed the card’s location and fight lineup, Nurmagomedov said he was stuck in his native Dagestan and was replaced by Gaethje.
Nurmagomedov, who is Muslim, currently is observing the holy month of Ramadan, which this year is from April 24 to May 23. He trains during this time of fasting, but not at a level he would for a fight. He previously told ESPN he would need time after Ramadan to properly train.
Much of White’s schedule making for the fight will center around the construction taking place on Fight Island. As for now, the construction is not complete.
“Hopefully it will be done by mid-June, and I could put on a fight that weekend that it’s done or end of June,” White said.
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