By now I’m sure most mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are aware that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was forced to cancel the Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov pay-per-view (PPV) title fight after “Blessed” was ruled medically unfit to compete and banned from weighing in.
That’s the second opponent “The Eagle” has lost within the last seven days, after Tony Ferguson blew out his knee and returned to the sidelines. As a result, the promotion is trying to cobble together a new main event featuring … just about anybody they can find.
“Khabib my brother, I want to keep going but they are stopping me,” Holloway wrote on Twitter. “Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and ‘Showtime’ Pettis. Give the fans what they deserve.”
It seems the decision to yank Holloway came as a surprise to the people charged with helping him make weight, according to some comments posted on social media.
The cut was going great actually…
— Tyler Melee Minton (@TheMeleeWay) April 6, 2018
K.
Pettis, available when Michael Chiesa was injured in last Thursday’s McMelee, was an early candidate to replace Holloway; however, UFC could not agree on the right price and sought out “The Irish Dragon” instead.
Too bad that’s not happening either.
Can confirm Paul Felder will not get the Nurmagomedov fight because the NYSAC says he’s “not ranked.” https://t.co/xNEvTWNvFF
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) April 6, 2018
Stay tuned, this is probably going to get worse before it gets better.