Umar Nurmagomedov (photo via YouTube)

By FCF Staff

The highly anticipated UFC debut of Umar Nurmagomedov, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin, has been postponed again.

The undefeated bantamweight was booked to fight Sergei Morozov this coming Saturday at UFC 254. But, recently Russia’s TASS reported that Nurmagomedov (12-0) has been hospitalized due to severe, flue like symptoms.

Khabib, however, has since reported the following via Instagram (translation via Google Translate).

“…the last few days, Umar has been in a hotel with a high fever, which was caused by a staphylococcal infection. But despite this, he and our entire team were determined that he would perform on October 24th. This morning, before our flight to Abu Dhabi, he got worse and was hospitalized in Dubai.”

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Всем Салам Алейкум. Последние несколько дней Умар пролежал в отеле с высокой температурой, которая была вызвана стафилококковой инфекцией. Но несмотря на это он и вся наша команда были настроены, что он выступит 24 октября. Сегодня утром, перед нашим вылетом в Абу-Даби ему стало хуже и его госпитализировали в Дубае. – Выздоравливай Братишка, значит так было суждено @umar_nurmagomedov

A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Oct 18, 2020 at 4:40am PDT

UFC officials have also confirmed to MMA Junkie that Khabib’s October 24th bout with Justin Gaethje is proceeding.

This latest situation marks the third time Umar Nurmagomedov’s Octagon debut has been postponed.