Khabib Nurmagomedov Favored Over Justin Gaethje In Potential UFC Title Unification Bout

Justin Gaethje had the best outing of his seven-fight UFC career on Saturday night. Gaethje battered Tony Ferguson for nearly 25 minutes in the headlining bout of the UFC 249 pay-per-view card. When referee Herb Dean waved off the contest at the 3:39 mark of the fifth and final round, Ferguson’s face was bloody and swollen. Gaethje, who put Ferguson through the ringer, was none the worse for wear. The late TKO win earned Gaethje the interim UFC light heavyweight title. That victory is expected to earn Gaethje a title unification bout with current lightweight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The early odds for that matchup favor the 28-0 champion over the former World Series of Fighting lightweight kingpin. Nurmagomedov is listed as a -350 favorite over the +285 Gaethje. 

Those odds most likely mean little to Gaethje. He has been an underdog in five of his seven UFC outings. The closing odds for UFC 249 favored Ferguson (-260) over Gaethje (+200).

After his win at UFC 249, Gaethje removed the interim title from his waist and tossed it to his team. When UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked Gaethje why he did not keep the belt, Gaethje replied, “I’ll wait for the real one.”

After Gaethje’s win, UFC president Dana White said the fight could have been stopped earlier.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Gaethje, because he fought an incredible fight,” White said at the UFC 249 post-fight press conference. “But I thought Tony looked off tonight. I thought he looked slow, and I would have to imagine that cutting weight twice in a month will affect you. So I don’t know if that’s it or what.”

“The guy isn’t human. He’s got a chin. Nobody takes Gaethje’s punches like that — nobody I’ve seen since I’ve been watching Gaethje fight. But this kid did.”

UFC 249 took place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view.