THE UFC LOOKS set to make a second attempt to install an interim lightweight champion while Conor McGregor focuses on matters elsewhere.
UFC president Dana White has told reporters, including Heidi Fang of the Las Vegas Review Journal, that Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will fight for an interim belt at UFC 216 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 7 October.
McGregor became the UFC’s undisputed lightweight champion last November when he stopped Eddie Alvarez in the second round of the main event at UFC 205 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
But with a boxing bout between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather set to take place in Vegas on Saturday week, the Dubliner has yet to defend his title.
The UFC first aimed to find an interim champion in the 155lbs division back in March at UFC 209. However, the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Ferguson fell through when Nurmagomedov was hospitalised while cutting weight.
Ferguson (22-3), the number one contender in the lightweight division, is on a nine-fight win streak. The 33-year-old Californian hasn’t fought since he got the better of former champion Rafael dos Anjos back in November.
A 24-year-old native of Michigan, Lee (16-2) climbed to seventh in the lightweight rankings after picking up five wins in the space of just 14 months, the most recent of which came via submission at the expense of Michael Chiesa in June.
