The first big news from the world of MMA overnight is that, unfortunately, Jon Jones won't be taking a heavyweight fight on 11 days notice. Instead, the disaster that was UFC 196 is no longer a PPV event and has instead been moved to Fox Sports and will be aired for free with Johny Hendricks vs Stephen Thompson moved to the main event.
In reality it was the only logical option left for the UFC. Scrap the PPV event and move on, there'll be plenty of opportunities to rake in the cash in the coming months. Front and centre in that is of course UFC 197 and there was also some significant news to break over night in that regard.
Tony Ferguson against Michael Johnson has been taken off the card with Johnson pulling out for undisclosed reasons. That was a bit of a blow considering Ferguson's standing in the lightweight division but the UFC have more than made up for it. UFC 197 is still one bout down but an April 16th event on Fox has been given the kind of headline fight that fans have been counting on for more than two years.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is finally making his comeback and he'll take on Ferguson on that April 16th card, two years after his last UFC fight in April 2014. There's no other news about that card as yet but it's quite likely that this fight will act as a title eliminator with the winner facing whomever comes out on top between Conor McGregor and Rafael dos Anjos on March 5th.
Fans will no doubt be sceptical about Nurmagomedov's return given his recent record with injuries but preventing another catastrophe for The Eagle, this one is happening and depending on that title fight at UFC 197, it could have big implications for McGregor later this year.
