Early Monday morning, the undefeated UFC lightweight champion revealed that he was stuck in his home country of Dagestan after the Russian government issued a travel ban due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Nurmagomedov had returned home to finish his training camp in anticipation of his fight against Tony Ferguson happening in Abu Dhabi on April 18.
Unfortunately, the restrictions may prevent Nurmagomedov from traveling anywhere, which has now forced the promotion to begin looking at alternate plans to fill the main event slot at UFC 249.
According to sources speaking to MMA Fighting on Monday, Gaethje has been tapped as a possible replacement to step in on short notice to face Ferguson.