A new main event for April 18’s UFC 249 main event has been revealed. UFC president Dana White confirmed the new main event on Twitter Monday afternoon. 

His tweet reads, “The fight is signed and is 100% ON LIVE on ESPN somewhere on EARTH!! Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje is LIVE on ESPN+ PPV April 18th for the interim lightweight belt!”

Tony Ferguson is currently ranked No. 1 in the UFC lightweight division, and Justin Gathje is at No. 4. The location of the fight has not been announced, but ESPN reported last night that the UFC was considering somewhere in the western United States.

Yesterday, Dana White revealed that he would announce the entire fight card on April 6.

The UFC 249 Main Event Originally Featured Lightweight Champ Khabib Nurmagomedov

April 18’s fight card was not supposed to look like this. The original main event for UFC 249 featured lightweight champ Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov defending his belt against Tony Ferguson. But because of the global coronavirus pandemic, Khabib, who lives in Russia, is subjected to travel restrictions.

The Eagle made it clear that he was willing to fight Ferguson on April 18, but he needed the UFC to figure out the logistics behind getting him to the fight, and tell him where he was going. It appears that the promotion decided that wasn’t the option to take, and on Sunday, Dana White announced that Khabib was officially off the card.

This is the fifth time a fight between the two top lightweights has been scheduled and canceled.

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