Khabib returns to Russia from US due to Covid-19 pandemic, less than month out from Ferguson fight

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has returned to Russia from the US, where he had been preparing for his fight against Tony Ferguson on April 18, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE: AKA KO'd by corona: Khabib Nurmagomedov's US training base CLOSED due to COVID19

According to the fighter’s Russian manager, Rizvan Magomedov, the UFC’s 155lbs champion has returned home from his regular training base at American Kickboxing Academy’s San Jose, California headquarters after the facility closed to the public last week, TASS reported.

Khabib’s title defense against Ferguson is planned to go ahead at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but the feasibility of that match-up taking place in the current climate has become shrouded in doubt due to the global fight against the Covid-19 virus. 

Less than a month out from perhaps the most anticipated fight in mixed martial arts history, the news will ring alarm bells for MMA fans, who fear a fifth straight cancellation of the Khabib versus Tony saga, which dates back to 2015.

Making proceedings even more difficult for Khabib is the current law in Russia, whereby any Russian national returning to the country from abroad must submit to 14 days obligatory self-isolation upon arrival, which could force him to train alone for two weeks of his camp.

That is despite UFC head honcho Dana White stubbornly insisting the fight will go ahead by any means necessary. White recently insisted it “is going to happen” — but conceded that the fight “probably will not be in the United States."

Khabib also confirmed he was willing to make the fight despite panic over coronavirus. “It’s going to be a good if fight happens in the US because I am here already for like one-and-a-half month," the Russian said.

“I’ve been training, and from this day we have like 30 days before the fight. Almost one month, and it’s going to be very good if we fight here in the US. But if not, any place. Any place, I don’t care.”

Subsequently, rumors have surfaced that the fight could take place in Khabib's home country, should original plans for the fight become untenable.