Conor McGregor could fill in for Khabib Nurmagomedov and fight Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 249, his coach John Kavanagh has hinted.
The bout between Ferguson and Khabib, for Nurmagomedov’s UFC lightweight title, appears to have been chalked off for the fifth time, this time due to the champion being stuck in Russia under a travel ban due to coronavirus.
Weight issues and injuries have seen this fight postponed four times previously and has led UFC fans to labelling it as cursed, something that has gained further weight in recent weeks.
UFC president Dana White is still keen to put on UFC 249, which was scheduled for 18 April, and is looking for a replacement to take on Ferguson.
Lightweight contender Justin Gaethje is seen as the most likely option, but Kavanagh has hinted that his student could fill the void and create a mammoth contest between the Notorious and El Cucuy.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani ran a Twitter poll asking if Ferguson should fight Gaethje next or wait for the Khabib fight to be available again, with Kavanagh teasing: ‘Maybe there’s a third option…’
The Irish coach also tweeted a picture of his calendar, which was entirely blank except ‘***!!!****’ on 18 April, further sending fans into a frenzy.
Kavanagh then wrote: ‘I meant to delete that before posting. Please just ignore it. I’d appreciate if you didn’t share it, thank you,’ although he has not deleted the tweet.
McGregor is believed to be in Ireland and with a travel ban on entering the US from Europe still in place, it seems highly unlikely that the former featherweight and lightweight champion would be able to ride to the rescue.
It may well be that Kavanagh is just trolling fans, but it will certainly keep interest alive in the fat of UFC 249.
Ferguson still wants to fight Khabib and get his well-deserved shot at the gold after compiling a 12-fight win streak and going 14-1 in the UFC since his 2011 debut.
He tweeted on Monday: ‘April 18 Is Getting Close @TeamKhabib & You’re Hiding In Russia. Travel Bans Will Not Prevent Me From Whoopin’ That Ass. Don’t Use It As An Excuse To Back Out. You Have Been Sent Many Locations, Send Us 1. Still My Bitch #DefendorVacate.’
White is also desperate to put on El Cucuy vs the Eagle after failing so many times before, although the landscape is continually changing in front of him.
‘The challenges are that every time I get something figured out, I wake up the next day and the world has completely changed again,’ White told Frank Warren’s Heavyweight podcast. ‘Everything that I work hard on the day before, me and my crew, has now fallen apart.
‘It literally just happened to us again today. I woke up today and Khabib Nurmagomedov is in Russia and they just shut down all travel in and out of Russia.
‘I woke up this morning and the whole world f*****g changed again. So back to the drawing board and we’re figuring this out right now as we’re speaking right now, I have people working on this thing as we speak.
‘Listen, I am absolutely f******g relentless and I said that this fight is going to go on and it will.’
MORE: Conor McGregor calls on Irish military to enforce ‘true lockdown’ amid coronavirus pandemic
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