You have to feel sorry for Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been booked for what promises to be the greatest lightweight title fight in history. The only problem is, no one is sure what title they're actually fighting for in UFC 223's main event.
Never before have two 155 lbers entered into a UFC title fight with streaks like these two warriors. Ferguson set a divisional UFC record of 10 consecutive wins to earn this match-up. Nurmagomdov has a pristine professional record of 25-0 with nine of those victories coming inside the Octagon.
Yet, because of Dana White's reluctance to confirm what belt is on the line, we haven't a clue what prefix to give these competitors. Is it champion vs title challenger, interim champion vs interim title challenger? Conor McGregor has yet to be stripped of his lightweight belt, but the president has confirmed that the winner will be 'champion'.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/958070477225906177
This is uncharted territory for the UFC. They've never announced a high-profile title fight before in which no one is sure what title is actually up for grabs.
Nurmagomedov told
Russia Today that it will be for the undisputed vacant title. However, to add another good measure of confusion into the mix, he also claimed that the title won't be vacated until after the fight takes place.
"I talk with Dana. I talk with everybody about this situation, but they say we're going to fight for vacant belt. Vacant undisputed belt. This is not Conor's belt, this is not interim Tony Ferguson belt, this is vacant belt. After when we fight on April 7 they're going to make it official like, 'Who wins becomes world champion.'"
"Now, Tony Ferguson's still interim champion. Conor McGregor, they call him champion but he isn't the champion. Whoever wins is going to become the real champ."
So they're not fighting for McGregor's or Ferguson's belt. It's neither an interim nor an undisputed championship bout. The winner will be the 'real champion' though'.
What?
