Khabib Nurmagomedov Vs Dustin Poirier Confirmed For September 7th

Khabib Nurmagomedov will make his return to the octagon 11 months after his fight against Conor McGregor with UFC announcing he will face interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in September.

It's unlikely that anyone will ever forget Khabib Nurmagomedov's lightweight title defence against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 anytime soon, least of all the two men who faced off last October.

Most people would have expected Nurmagomedov tapping McGregor out to be the headline coming out of the fight but instead it was all about the crazy moments after the fight.

With the Russian celebrating yet another win he jumped over the cage and into the crowd, starting a fight with one of McGregor's team, meanwhile two members of his own team got into the octagon and attacked the Irishman.

The incident cost all the men several months of their careers as they picked up bans from six months to a year.

Khabib is officially able to fight again on July 6th but it has now been confirmed that he will wait until September for his return, when he will defend his title against interim champion Dustin Poirier:

Poirier became interim champion when he defeated Max Holloway at UFC 236 in April on a unanimous decision after five rounds.

The American had never previously fought for a UFC title, before the Holloway fight, and is now on a five fight winning streak, with a no contest against Eddie Alvarez in the middle of the run.

The Holloway fight was arguably the 30 year old's best performance in the octagon so far in his career and he will be looking to unify the division.

McGregor won't be the only person disappointed to find that Khabib has a fight announced with former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson missing out.

The American fights Donald Cerrone in June but after having the fight with Khabib cancelled four times in the past he may well have been looking for a quick turnaround to fight the Russian.

Can Poirier be the first man to beat Khabib?

Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor, UFC 229, Dustin Poirier, UFC 242, UFC News, MMA News, Lightweight champion, UFC, MMA, Dana White

Ryan Sidle

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