Outside of Conor McGregor returning the Octagon, a fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is the bout every fight fan has at the top of their wish list. Sunday night brought good news for those fans, as the highly anticipated tilt is apparently picking up some serious momentum.

Immediately following the conclusion of UFC Fight Night 124 in St. Louis, UFC President Dana White spoke to FS1 about a variety of topics — one of which was the current lightweight title picture. White didn't go into a ton of detail but did reveal his promotion is working on getting a fight between the current interim titleholder Ferguson and the undefeated Dagestan-born smashing machine Nurmagomedov.

Dana White tells FS1 that UFC is working on Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov after Conor McGregor telling him he may not fight until September. Would McGregor be stripped? "Absolutely," he says.

— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) January 15, 2018

Around the same time a tweet was posted by a sports journalist from Russia claiming the proposed bout between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov is being targeted for April 7 in New York. This information lines up with talk the bout will take place in Brooklyn, but that information remains in rumor status as well. Brooklyn has a large Russian migrant population, which would make the borough an easy choice to host the scrap.

While there has yet to be any concrete information regarding the actual fight, this is far from the first instance fans have heard about the potential matchup. Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were slated to collide on three previous occasions, but circumstance prevented the two elite-level lightweights from meeting inside the Octagon.

Khabib will be fighting with Ferguson on April 7 in the New York, Zabit Magomedsharipov will also participate in this tournment. #ufc

— Adam Zubayraev (@AdamZubayraev) January 14, 2018

The first scheduled bout between the two was slated for "The Ultimate Fighter 22" finale in December 2015, but issues during his weight cut forced Nurmagomedov out of the bout. Ferguson remained on the card, then went on to defeat Edson Barboza via d'arce choke in the second round.

The bout was rescheduled for UFC on Fox 19 four months later, but this time it was Ferguson who was forced out of action due to a lung issue. "El Cucuy" was replaced by Darrell Horcher, who was on the receiving end of a one-sided beatdown that resulted in a TKO finish before the second round came to a close.

Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were booked for a third time at UFC 209 in March 2017, this time the interim lightweight title was at stake. That said, "The Eagle" once again encountered medical issues during his weight cut and was removed from the bout. 

Ferguson would go on to face Kevin Lee at UFC 216 seven months later in Las Vegas and earned the interim title by submitting the Detroit native with a triangle choke in the third round.