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Dagestan native Nurmagomedov was scheduled to
face Ferguson on April 18 at the Barclays Center in New York but
the venue had already been ruled out because of the virus
outbreak.
Nurmagomedov said on his Instagram page that "the whole world
should be in quarantine".
"Governments of all countries, famous people around the world
urge people to follow all safety requirements ... and Khabib is
the only one relieved of all obligations and must demonstrate
free will and train flying around the world, for the sake of
fight?
"I understand everything and I'm definitely more upset than you
to cancel the fight. Probably like all others, I had many plans
after the fight, but I can't control it all."
Nurmagomedov and Ferguson had previously been booked to fight on
four occasions but each bout was cancelled because of health or
fitness issues.
Ferguson said Nurmagomedov was "scared" and should be stripped
of his title.
"He was in Abu Dhabi, he had his chance to be able to come back
before the borders were closed in Russia," Ferguson told ESPN.
"He decided to go back to Dagestan, did not finish his camp.
"The guy does not want to fight. He's scared, he's running. He
should be stripped of his title."
The UFC has said it was keen to host the event at a new location
on the same date and Ferguson confirmed he would stay on the
card.
"It doesn't matter who we have. We're gonna try to make this
thing go," Ferguson added. "At least some of the people in the
world have a little bit of hope."
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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