What an unholy mess.
Max Holloway tried to ride to the rescue but to no avail.
Aside from the bus attack debacle at the UFC 223 media day, in Brooklyn, on Thursday night, the Dubliner was always set to lose his 155lbs strap as soon as main event fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway [the reigning featherweight champ] made championship weight.
The Dagestani was the first of the headliners to weigh in and he was 154.5lbs, so good to go.
Credit: MMA FightingHolloway, who, according to nutritionist George Lockhart, weighed in at 176lbs at the beginning of the week, was next up.
The only problem is, the Hawaiian never showed and ESPN are reporting that the main event is OFF.
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
Nurmagomedov will now NOT be able to fight for the lightweight belt. That would mean McGregor remains champion, for now, while Tony Ferguson [out injured] remains interim champ.
The UFC will update fight fans later this afternoon as to what will happen with a fit and ready to compete Nurmagomedov. The latest, as per MMA Junkie, is that the promotion is scrambling to put former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a title fight with Nurmagomedov:
According to @MMAjunkie the UFC are attempting to arrange a fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis
Reminder: Max Holloway is OUT pic.twitter.com/5dzWz5HLaf
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 6, 2018
UFC women’s straw-weight champion Rose Namajunas, who was in the ‘red corner’ bus attacked last night, made weight for the co-main event, as did challenger Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Rose Namajunas weighs in at 114.2lbs 🇺🇸
Joanna Jedrzejczyk weighs in at 114lbs 🇵🇱#UFC223 has an official co-main event 🏆 pic.twitter.com/bCCkkIwDTK— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) April 6, 2018
You can check out the full weigh-in video, courtesy of MMA Fighting, here:
More to follow…
