The UFC 223 drama cycle continues to spin. Max Holloway is officially out of his UFC vacant lightweight championship bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
As originally reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Holloway was “declared medically unfit to fight,” per Dana White.
BREAKING: Max Holloway has been declared medically unfit to fight. Holloway is out of UFC 223. Per Dana White.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 6, 2018
Holloway took the fight on less than a week’s notice after interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson withdrew from the bout with an injury.
It’s unclear what prompted officials to waive off UFC 223’s main event. The featherweight champion had a long weight cut ahead of him after taking the bout on short notice. Holloway was forced to pull out of a March 3 title defense against Frankie Edgar after suffering a leg injury.
What’s Next?
There’s currently no information on whether Nurmagomedov will remain on the card and fight another lightweight for the belt.
Paul Felder and Al Iaquinta were slated to fight on the main card in a lightweight match. Felder, who weighed in at 155 on the nose, has volunteered on Twitter to step up.
Championship weight #imready @danawhite https://t.co/PaHLwkd7Ne
— Paul Felder (@felderpaul) April 6, 2018
Per Ariel Helwani, Iaquinta has also thrown his hat in the ring:
Al Iaquinta has offered to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov tomorrow, I’m told. His team is actively pushing for the fight right now.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 6, 2018
However, the UFC appears to be inclined to give former champion Anthony Pettis the title shot against Nurmagomedov, as originally reported by MMA Junkie:
Anthony Pettis has now been called upon to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. He has yet to weigh in. He has an hour to do so. He was left opponentless after Chiesa got cut yesterday. UFC confirms. @MMAjunkie first reported.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 6, 2018
UFC 223 Chaos
The main event will be the fourth fight scrapped from the event in two days. Conor McGregor’s assault on a bus carrying half of the card’s fighters resulted in injuries to Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg. Their fights with Pettis and Brandon Moreno respectively have been cancelled.
Artem Lobov, McGregor’s friend and teammate, was also involved in the incident. He was removed from his bout with Alex Caceres as punishment.
Rose Namajunas, the UFC strawweight champion, was nearly hit in the attack. She was shaken up, but her title defense against former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will go on as scheduled.
Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Kyle Bochniak has been moved up to the PPV main card to replace Chiesa vs. Pettis.
UFC 223 is set to go down at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night.
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