Last December, after smashing Edson Barboza for three brutal rounds to run his record to 25-0 and set himself up for a shot at the UFC lightweight belt, Khabib Nurmagomedov stood inside the Octagon and brazenly called out champion Conor McGregor.
And interim champ Tony Ferguson.
Both of them.
"Conor and Tony are nothing," Nurmagomedov said. "It does not matter to me which one I get next. If the UFC will allow me, I will fight them both in the same night. I want the title fight in April."
Well, Nurmagomedov is not getting McGregor nor Ferguson (it's a long story), but he is getting his title shot. Still.
On Friday afternoon, hours after Nurmagomedov's second opponent of the week had fallen out of Saturday's scheduled fight in New York, the UFC announced that Al Iaquinta will step up on one day's notice and face the 29-year-old Dagestani.
"WOW what a week," UFC president Dana White tweeted. "Thank you Ragin Al for demanding this fight and thank you Khabib for being willing to fight ANYONE all week!!!"
New York State Athletic Commission rules decree that only Nurmagomedov will be eligible to win the belt Saturday night. He weighed in at 154.5 pounds -- under the 155-pound requirement for a lightweight championship fight. Iaquinta (13-3-1), a 30-year-old from nearby Garden City, New York, came in at 155.2. That weight was acceptable for Iaquinta's scheduled bout at the time, a nontitle prelim with Paul Felder.
However, at a press conference following Friday night's ceremonial weigh-in, White said Iaquinta will get a UFC belt if he wins. "As far as the commission goes, Khabib is the one that's eligible for the title," he said. "But if Ragin' Al wins the fight, he's the champ."
The UFC 223 card has undergone much upheaval, including being shrunk to just nine fights rather than the usual 13. Three bouts were canceled in the wake of Thursday's incident at a UFC media event involving McGregor, two because fighters on the bus leaving the Barclays Center were injured by shattered glass, the other because a fighter, McGregor teammate Artem Lobov, was alleged to have participated in the attack on the bus.
As for Nurmagomedov, his original opponent, Ferguson, dropped out of the fight Sunday with a torn knee ligament -- making it four times that Nurmagomedov-Ferguson has been booked and then scuttled by injury.
Next came Max Holloway, the featherweight champ, who agreed to step in for the opportunity to become only the second fighter -- after McGregor -- to reign simultaneously in two weight classes. But Holloway had much weight to cut and little time to do it, and Friday morning, the New York State Athletic Commission declared him medically unfit to fight.
The UFC reportedly tried to book former champion Anthony Pettis to move up from the undercard and face Nurmagomedov. Then the promotion attempted the same with Felder. But ultimately, the spot went to Iaquinta, who has won his last five fights and eight of nine.