UFC Is Making a Huge Mistake by Not Waiting to Book Khabib-Ferguson

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Remember that old adage? Maybe you heard it from a math teacher when you struggled with a frustrating problem as a kid. Maybe you heard it from your roommate last night when you got embarrassed in Call of Duty: Warzone for the 100th time in a row—no wait, that was me. Whatever the case, you've probably heard it before.

Dana White and the other decision-makers at UFC headquarters need to hear it now.

Over the last few years, White and his team have worked feverishly to book a showdown between the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, now the UFC lightweight champ, and the streaking Tony Ferguson, the division's top contender. Each time the company has tried to make the fight, it's fallen through, and each time it's fallen through, fan appetite for the matchup has grown.

At this point, it might be the most widely-desired fight in UFC history

The UFC most recently attempted to shepherd Khabib and Ferguson into the Octagon together at UFC 249, which was supposed to go down on Saturday. Unfortunately, Khabib got stranded in his native Russia because of travel restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Just like that, his fight with Ferguson bit the dust for a preposterous fifth time.

It hurt, but hey, when it comes to this matchup, we've all been hurt before. We're tough. We're calloused. We can take it. All the UFC needed to do was reschedule the matchup for a sixth time a few months from now, and we could all start praying that attempt would be successful. 

Instead, the UFC called up ferocious lightweight contender Justin Gaethje and convinced him to fight Ferguson in a short-notice interim lightweight title fight at UFC 249. This was a mistake. Not because Ferguson vs. Gaethje isn't a dynamite fight on paper—it is—but because it poses a colossal risk to an even better fight in Khabib vs. Ferguson. If Gaethje were to beat Ferguson, which is very possible, our long-awaited Khabib vs. Ferguson fight would lose almost all of its appeal.

Now, as we all now know, UFC 249 fell through when Disney and ESPN encouraged Dana White to pull the plug on the event. It seems these corporate titans didn't like the optics of promoting a fight card during a global health crisis. Fair. As fans sifted through the rubble of this ruined card, one of the only silver linings that could be found was that the long-awaited Khabib vs. Ferguson was no longer in jeopardy.

Just days after UFC 249's demise, however, White unveiled plans for a super-event on May 9—an event that is supposed to mark the UFC's triumphant return from its ever-so-brief pandemic-induced hiatus. The main event of this newly constructed leviathan? An interim lightweight title fight between Ferguson vs. Gaethje. Just like that, our long-desired Khabib vs. Ferguson fight is at risk of being destroyed again.

It doesn't have to be this way.

White and his supporters will no doubt remind that the primary objective of this card is to bounce back. To emerge from a brief pause in the most emphatic way possible. This card is supposed to be a blockbuster. A celebration! But White and the UFC can easily give fight fans that celebration without risking Ferguson's fight with Khabib.

Neither Ferguson nor Gaethje has ever proved to be a pay-per-view star. Ferguson has only headlined one UFC pay-per-view in his 16-fight UFC career—when he took on Kevin Lee at UFC 216—and it registered a paltry 200,000 buys. Gaethje, meanwhile, has never headlined a UFC pay-per-view. In fact, only one of his six UFC fights occurred on pay-per-view. The intention here is not to suggest that either man isn't popular, but if the goal is turning the UFC's May 9 return into a pay-per-view home run, there's no evidence that Ferguson and Gaethje need to be fighting in the main event.

It's not like the UFC doesn't have other options, either.

Instead of risking Ferguson's win-streak and hard-earned shot at Khabib on May 9, the promotion could have booked a welterweight scrap between former champ Tyron Woodley and former title challenger Colby Covington on the card. Both men say they want the fight. Both say they are healthy enough to take it. Furthermore, they share one of the most heated rivalries in the sport, which would probably drum up even more interest than the Ferguson vs. Gaethje fight.

If UFC brass believe a Woodley vs. Covington fight isn't the right fit for this May 9 card, a welterweight title fight between champ Kamaru Usman and top contender Jorge Masvidal surely would be. Like Woodley and Covington, both men say they want the fight, and both seem to ready to do it on short notice, per MMA Fighting's Damon Martin. And unlike the Ferguson vs. Gaethje matchup, an Usman vs. Masvidal bout would be a legitimate title fight between an undisputed champ and a top contender. There would be no need to fluff this one up with an unnecessary interim title. 

We know that Dana White likes to gamble. That's all well and good when he's risking his own money. By pushing Ferguson into a short-notice fight with Gaethje, however, he's gambling with something we all value: a long-awaited scrap between Ferguson and Khabib.

What should he do instead of rolling the metaphorical dice? 

Accept that the fifth attempt at Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson was a failure and try to book it for a sixth time. If that fails, try a seventh time. An eighth time. A ninth time. Try, try again. 

We need to see this fight.