A lightweight title unification bout will headline UFC 253 as UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov faces UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje.
Marcelo Barone & Raphael Marinho of Combate first reported the main event encounter.
Nurmagomedov (28-0-0) is making the third defense of his championship, previously defending it against Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Nurmagomedov is competing in his second straight title unification bout, as the fighter against Poirier at UFC 242 was a unification fight. Nurmagomedov is headlining his fourth straight UFC pay-per-view card and it has been almost three years since the last time Nurmagomedov didn’t headline an event.
Gaethje (22-2-0) became the UFC Interim Lightweight Champion with a fifth round TKO win over former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. Nurmagomedov is also a former WSOF Lightweight Champion, defeating Richard Patishnock at the WSOF 8 to claim the gold. Gaethje has competed a total of twenty four times as a professional MMA fighter and just two of those bouts went the distance.
UFC 253 takes place on Saturday, September 19 from a location to be announced with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
