Tony Ferguson has a chance to become the first fighter in UFC history to be crowned interim champion twice. Perhaps not the record he was aiming for, but after lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was forced to pull out of UFC 249 due to travel restrictions in Russia, Ferguson drew Justin Gaethje , and he still has a chance to win gold. Ferguson (25-3 MMA, 15-1 UFC) captured the interim lightweight title in 2017 when he submitted Kevin Lee , but was later stripped of the title when he was forced out of his UFC 223 bout with Nurmagomedov due to injury . Ferguson then scored back-to-back stoppage wins over Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, setting him up with a fifth booking against Nurmagomedov that has again been canceled
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