Tony Ferguson isn’t the only person unclear about the stakes involved in his April 7 title defense against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223.
With UFC president Dana White outright refusing to say that the promotion’s absentee lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, will be stripped of his belt, the question of whether Ferguson and Nurmagomedov are fighting for the legitimate 155-pound title at UFC 223 — as White claimed — or Ferguson’s interim strap is the biggest elephant in the room heading into what should be a marquee fight for the UFC’s most talent-rich division.