UFC 197 loses its first fight as lightweight contender drops out

Let's hope that this is the only fight that falls off of the UFC 197 card.

Last week it was announced that Tony Ferguson would get the chance to avenge his only UFC loss with a rematch against Michael Johnson on March 5. While it was an exciting fight, it was seen as something of a backwards step for Ferguson, who has gone 7-0 since dropping that decision in 2012. Johnson is riding a two fight losing streak and were it not for Conor McGregor's decision to move up to lightweight for a title shot, it could well have been Ferguson who was next up for 155 lb champion Rafael dos Anjos. So with March too early for a Khabib Nurmagomedov comeback and Eddie Alvarez unwilling to fight so soon after his victory over Anthony Pettis, it was decided that Ferguson vs. Johnson would make sense. But now those plans have changed, with MMAFighting breaking the news that Michael Johnson has been forced to withdraw from the March event for undisclosed reasons (though he reportedly faces surgery). And rather than search for a replacement for 'El Cucuy' for UFC 197, the promotion have gone in a different direction by booking the TUF 13 winner against the returning Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC on Fox event in mid-April. The winner of that bout, which is rumoured to be taking place in Florida, will likely be next in line for the winner of Dos Anjos vs. McGregor - there is no real scenario in which the UFC could justify denying a victorious Ferguson or Nurmagomedov a shot at lightweight gold. And not to be pessimistic but, given Nurmagomedov's injury track record, we'd advise other top lightweights to start aiming for an April fight as there's no guarantee the Sambo expert will make it through another AKA training camp.