What really happened to Max Holloway? Was Paul Felder’s ranking an issue? What about Anthony Pettis? NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler is hoping to put a few rumors to bed.
UFC 223 was a big mess. Even as a reasonably entertaining – and eventually, likely fairly financially successful – pay-per-view event, a week that had started with a thirteen fight card headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson ended up as a nine fight card with Nurmagomedov defeating Al Iaquinta for a UFC title. What was supposed to be a clarifying moment for the lightweight division was anything but.
McGregor’s decision to storm Barclays Center during fight week caused three bout cancellations. And when coupled with Ferguson blowing out his knee and Max Holloway’s weight cut getting stopped, it’s understandable that things got crazy. And, as things often do when they go way wrong in a hurry, rumors started flying left, right, and center.
When Holloway was pulled just before weigh-ins, reports came fast and furious, as the UFC scrambled for a replacement. Supposedly, commission doctors hadn’t even examined Holloway when he was removed just before weigh ins for the way he “looked.” Supposedly, the UFC offered Anthony Pettis as a replacement, but once ‘Showtime’ made a counter-offer the promotion scrapped the idea. Supposedly, the commission told the UFC that Paul Felder wasn’t a fit replacement because he wasn’t ranked via the UFC’s system.
Hoping to shed some light on all this is New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) executive director Kim Sumbler. Sumbler spoke to MMA Fighting, and made it known first and foremost, that Max Holloway was pulled by NYSAC medical staff.
“I was called into the room about half an hour before the weigh-ins were over, our last weigh-in time was 11:00, so it was about 10:30 in the morning,” Sumbler told MMA Fighting. “We were called into a room with my chief medical officer and Jeff Davidson of the UFC medical team and discussed Max’s condition. It was decided at that time jointly that we weren’t going to allow Max to weigh in.”
Sumbler didn’t change the narrative on Anthony Pettis, but added a little extra insight to the process. After speaking to someone on Pettis’ fight team, who told her his fighter wouldn’t lose 0.2 lbs to get down to the title fight limit, she spoke to the former lightweight champion directly.
“I asked Anthony directly, I had him look me in the face because he was writing some paper work and I said, ‘Anthony, I want you to turn and look at me,’ and he did. And it was in front of the UFC and his team, and I said, ‘Anthony, do you want to lose the extra 0.2 (pounds) and he said, ‘no, I don’t,’ and I said, ‘okay,’ and he took this great big jug of water and he drank it and I said, ‘guys, go pick up the scale’. And that was the end of it. I said I would approve a three-round fight, ‘I don’t think you’re ready for a five, I’ll approve you for a three-round fight against Khabib’. He went to go and do negotiations (with the UFC) and that was the last I heard until they presented me to Al.”
And as for Paul Felder and his ranking? Apparently that bit of controversy never even happened, at least to hear the NYSAC tell it.
“Paul Felder never came into play,” Sumbler clarified. “He was never presented to me as an opponent, ever. His name was talked around the commission room with other fighters, other managers and other people, but the UFC never presented me Paul Felder as a potential opponent for Khabib.”
Whether or not the actual presentation of his name to the commission ever happened, Felder maintains that, had UFC 223 been in Las Vegas, he would likely have gotten the call.
Also of note, Sumbler reportedly told MMA Fighting that Holloway was within seven pounds of being on weight when he was removed from his bout. In a recent interview on the MMA Hour, Holloway revealed that he was under 159 lbs when the fight was called off.
And while the NYSAC’s explanations seem reasonable enough (and their work on the problems at the time seem to have pleased Dana White), it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is part of an ongoing series of issues with MMA in the Empire State. Past regulations over breast implants, celebrations, eye surgeries, and replays have all been cause for controversy during UFC events in the two years since legalization in New York. UFC 223 certainly didn’t do anything to improve that reputation.