UFC 249 Update
UFC 249 Update
There's good news, and then there's bad news when it comes to the upcoming UFC 249 on April 18th. The good news is that as of Thursday, April 9th, the event does appear as though it will happen. The bad news, however, is that there will be no long-awaited Khabib versus Ferguson fight and much of the card has been revamped. Per TMZ, UFC President Dana White is working out a deal for a private island, a "fight island" if you will, where he will fly the fighters to for this event and he even plans on putting on fights weekly.
Looking into the revamped card, there have been changes on all three cards. The early prelims will still feature Sijara Eubanks versus Sarah Moras, although the other three previously fights have been scratched. Khama Worthy has been moved from the prelim card to the early prelims, and he will take on Michael Johnson as opposed to Ottman Azaitar. Ryan Spann versus Sam Alvey was the other addition to the card in the men's light heavyweight division.
Moving into the prelims, Uriah Hall will still take on Ronaldo Souza although this is the only surviving fight that was previously on the schedule. Both Marlon Vera versus Ray Borg from the men's bantamweight division and Alexander Hernandez versus Omar Antonio Morales Ferrer from the men's lightweight division are new additions to the card. The prelims will also feature a very interesting men's heavyweight fight between seventh-ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik and the third ranked Francis Ngannou.
The main card still has some familiar faces on there. Jeremy Stephens taking on Calvin Kattar is still scheduled to take place and Tony Ferguson will still head the car. Vincente Luque versus Niko Price out of the men's welterweight division and Greg Hardy against Yorgan De Castro has both been added to the card. The co-main event will be announced soon as they are searching for a new opponent for Jessica Andrade after Rose Namajunas pulled out of their scheduled rematch.
The main event has been changed to a men's lightweight division interim title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje after the scratch of Khabib. The "interim" title means that for a period of time, there will be two champions simultaneously. The winner of this match will take on Khabib in their next fight to decide an outright champion. If Khabib is unable to fight once more, then he will be forced to relinquish the title.
