Max Holloway Pulled From UFC 223 Main Event

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was supposed to be the savior of the upcoming UFC 223 pay-per-view event.

Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov was the original main event of UFC 223 for the lightweight title. However, it was revealed that Ferguson wouldn’t be able to compete due to injury.

The UFC was able to talk featherweight champion Max Holloway into accepting the fight and go for history as if he beats Nurmagomedov then he would be a two-division champion.

We then had the Conor McGregor bus attack that led to three fights being pulled from the event. Then, it was revealed on Friday that Holloway had been declared medically unfit to fight.

UFC President Dana White made the news official once he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, who tweeted out the following:

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

As of this writing, there’s no word yet on if the UFC will find a replacement for Holloway, which is not likely due to the short notice.

Therefore, it’s likely that a rematch between Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the women’s strawweight title will be moved to the main event. It’s possible that Paul Felder or Anthony Pettis steps in to fight Nurmagomedov.

Here is how the card looks like right now:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

TBA vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov – for lightweight title

Champ Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for women’s strawweight title

Calvin Kattar vs. Renato Moicano

Kyle Bochniak vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov

Paul Felder vs. Al Iaquinta

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1/8 p.m. ET)

Strawweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Felice Herrig

Lightweight: Joe Lauzon vs. Chris Gruetzemacher

Female Flyweight: Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Bec Rawlings

Lightweight: Evan Dunham vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/6 p.m. ET)

Featherweight: Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Kyle Bochniak

UFC 223 is set to take place on Saturday, April 7, 2018, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.