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White: I'll never book Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov again

Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports

The MMA Gods have kept Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov from clashing on four separate occasions, and Dana White won't draw their ire a fifth.

Shortly after announcing a torn LCL would keep Ferguson from meeting Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight crown at Saturday's UFC 223, White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto he was done trying to make the long-awaited, tantalizing matchup a reality.

"Hell no," White said, when asked if he'd take a fifth stab at booking Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov. "I'm never making that fight ever again. Ever."

Ferguson reportedly suffered the freak injury this past weekend when he tripped in an attempt to greet someone he'd run into unexpectedly on a studio set. The development marks the second time a championship bout between the two has been scrapped, as Nurmagomedov withdrew from an interim title fight in March due to a weight-cut-related hospitalization that came just hours prior to UFC 209. Reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway will now face Nurmagomedov for the lightweight crown.

White has since told Okamoto that Ferguson is no longer an interim titleholder, as the ill-fated matchup was already meant to determine the UFC's undisputed 155-pound champion, with Conor McGregor expected to be stripped of the crown he hasn't defended in nearly 17 months.

Holloway will now compete for that distinction in Ferguson's stead on six days' notice at Brooklyn's Barclays Center in UFC 223's main event. A victory over Nurmagomedov would make him the fifth two-division champion in promotional history, and the second fighter to have held two titles simultaneously.

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