UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has opened up his withdrawal from UFC 222.
The champion had to pull out of the event due to an injury. He was scheduled to make his next title defense against former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 222.
If you recall, this bout was originally scheduled for the UFC 218 pay-per-view event. However, Edgar was forced to withdraw from the fight after suffering a broken orbital bone in training.
This led to Holloway fighting Jose Aldo in a rematch, which saw Holloway successfully retain his title with a grisly third-round TKO.
Holloway once again spoke about the situation during a recent interview that was conducted on Monday, March 19.
“It was difficult, man. It was a tough pill to swallow, for sure,” Holloway told host Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I’ve never, ever pulled out of a fight in my life, not even in my amateur days. And for the first time to be that? So much history was on line.
“Things happen though. Things happen for a reason, and this injury popped up, and it wasn’t my day. It was a tough pill to swallow, man.
I was trying to find every single way out of this, trying to talk to the doctors and this and that and figure out a way so we could still go out there and fight, but it wasn’t budging, man. They had the last call, they had the final call — they called it, and it was definitely a hard one.”
Holloway made it known in this interview that his physical therapy has been progressing well since. Now, he is just waiting to receive doctor’s clearance to return to action soon as he wants to avoid surgery.
“We’ve got one more doctor’s meeting before everything, in like a month or so, and we’ll see what happens,” Holloway said. “I don’t know when it is exactly, but that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to get cleared.
“The surgery happens if the injury [rehabilitation] won’t hold up, so we’re waiting. The doctor gave us a certain timeline and we’re just playing it by ear now.”
“I think the talks with Hawaii have come a long way. This is the closest they’ve ever had to having a fight event down here, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know, like how you said, that snag — usually when the NFL comes down [for the Pro Bowl], they give the NFL a $5 million compensation.
So I think the UFC was trying to ask for that and then they kinda re-countered and they’re kinda just starting back-and-forth countering, so we’ll see what happens. I’m just glad that the HTA is actually taking the time to finally listen to the UFC and they’re finally talking about it.
“If it happens this year, it happens this year. If not, I’ve got to keep doing my job, and hopefully next year around the summertime it happens. So we’ll see happens. I’m positive that it’s going to happen. We’ve come leaps and bounds ahead of what it was before, so we’ve got the ball moving. We’ve got to just keep on creating hype.”
Holloway is due a title defense against top contender Brian Ortega, who is coming off a big win over Edgar at UFC 222.
With all of that said, a potential pay-per-view event in Hawaii is the ultimate goal for Holloway, which could be UFC 227. However, most likely, he will return in July at UFC 226.
UFC 226 is set to take place on Saturday, July 6, 2018, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass. Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic is slated to headline this event.
“That’s the timeline we’re looking at right now,” Holloway said. “My doctors, my physical therapists, my coaches, that’s all of the times that we’re looking at right now. They’re trying to see that July and August return, and that’s all I can do, be positive and keep training, keep getting this thing strong.
And I can’t wait, man. I can’t wait to make that walk again. It’s a pretty crazy experience getting injured this bad, and I don’t wish it on no one.”
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