UFC President Dana White is working on a date for lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s third title defense. White revealed to MMAJunkie after UFC Fight Night 171 that Nurmagomedov vs Justin Gaethje for the lightweight championship is being planned for September. White mentioned that the UFC was going to send bout agreements for both fighters to fight in July.
“We were gonna send out bout agreements yesterday,” White said. “There were a couple of weird things that happened yesterday, so we didn’t end up getting it done apparently, but we’re talking about doing Gaethje vs. Khabib in September.”
Nurmagomedov has had a rough start to 2020. He was scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson in their long-awaited matchup on April 18. However, the event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Russian media Sports-Express reported yesterday that Nurmagomedov’s father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was in a medically induced coma after having heart surgery. His father had been dealing with complications from pneumonia. The UFC, fighters, media members, and fans sent their good wishes for Abdulmanap recovery. MMA Junkie reports that Abdulmanap has woken up from his coma.
Gaethje is coming off a win over Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight championship at the rescheduled UFC 249 on May 9. He became the first fighter in UFC to beat Ferguson by TKO. Gaethje has finished all four of his last opponents. His win over Ferguson awarded Gaetheje his ninth performance of the night bonus in seven fights in the UFC.
