When it was revealed that Cris Cyborg vs. Holly Holm for the women's featherweight title would be featured on the UFC 219 card coming up on December 30th, it was noted that the UFC wasn't ready to declare it was the main event. That led to some wondering whether something bigger and even better than the biggest WMMA match of the year was in store.
Perhaps Woodley vs. Diaz?
But this tweet from Khabib Nurmagomedov shines a light on just how far the UFC went questing for a worthy main event for the Las Vegas New Year's weekend card.
To be clear I was offered to fight @TonyFergusonXT on December 30th and I accepted the fight but my focus is barboza. @danawhite @ufc
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) November 22, 2017
"To be clear I was offered to fight Tony Ferguson on December 30th," Nurmagomedov wrote. "And I accepted the fight, but my focus is Barboza."
While it's certainly possible that the UFC could confirm Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson in a few days, we wouldn't hold our breath. Ferguson probably feels one fight ahead of Khabib at this point, and is on the verge of getting a red panty night with Conor McGregor sometime early 2018. Why would he accept a fight like this now?
What's more likely is the UFC looked into it out of desperation (similar to what they did with Woodley vs. Diaz) but it was never close to being a real thing. Which is too bad, because a card with Woodley vs. Diaz, Cyborg vs. Holm and Khabib vs. Ferguson would be fire.