UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov will not be leaving his native Russia to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on April 18.
Since Nurmagomedov announced this decision, many members of the MMA community — including Ferguson and Conor McGregor — have accused him of bailing on the fight.
Not so, says Nurmagomedov.
Speaking during a Thursday Instagram Live session, the champ elaborated on why he will not be fighting on the 18. He says it simply doesn’t make sense to leave home amid a global pandemic for a fight card that still doesn’t have an official location.
“I want to fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “But the UFC has no location. Europe, US, Asia… they never send location. So how is this to happen? Fly to where? This is what happened. No location.
“All gate is closed,” Nurmagomedov added, touching on the extreme difficulty of international travel. “US gate. Russian gate. Everyone is told to stay home for quarantine. The number one thing that drive me crazy about this is people say I pull out. How do I pull out when there is no gate? No location? This I don’t understand.”
It’s hard to argue with the champ on this one.
This is not the first time Nurmagomedov has commented on this issue. On Wednesday, he officially announced that he won’t be able to compete on the UFC 249 card in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram.
