The fight many referred to as “the real main event” at UFC 209 is off.
An interim lightweight championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson scheduled for the co-main event of tomorrow night’s pay-per-view at T-Mobile Arena was canceled this morning. Nurmagomedov fell ill while cutting weight and never showed up for the morning weigh-ins.
He was transported to Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, where he was treated and discharged but doctors recommended he not go forward with the bout. Nurmagomedov had encountered problems making weight before — coming in two pounds heavy for a May 2013 bout against Abel Trujillo — and Ferguson attacked him over it on a conference all last week.