Dana White responds to fake Twitter account, says Khabib is out of UFC 249
Dana White shared some noteworthy news on Saturday night while responding to a fake tweet.
An impostor on Twitter who was posing as ESPN MMA reporter Ariel Helwani said that White and Vladimir Putin reached a deal for Khabib Nurmagomedov to travel to the United States to fight Tony Ferguson in their anticipated UFC 249 fight.
Again, the report was completely inaccurate and was just something an impostor account made up to try and fool people. Still, White responded to the tweet like it came from a real account. In the process, he shared some news, and that is that Khabib will not be involved in the fight card. He also said he would be revealing the full fight card on Monday.
Absolutely NOT true!!! The card is happening but @TeamKhabib is out. I will announce the entire card tomorrow.
— Dana White (@danawhite) April 6, 2020
Khabib has made it seem like he would not be fighting Ferguson as planned. He left San Jose where he trains for his home in Russia and encouraged people to follow social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. The current belief is that Ferguson will face Justin Gaethje in the main event.
The UFC has canceled its last three events due to the coronavirus, but they have been trying hard to make sure UFC 249 goes through. The event was initially scheduled to take place in Brooklyn but will now take place in a location that has not yet been revealed.
The UFC was bought by WME/IMG in 2016 for $4 billion. Their parent company is in serious debt, which has put additional pressure on the UFC to put on shows during this time to bring in revenue.
