The UFC 223 disasters continue to pile on.
A few days ago, the card was supposed to be headlined by Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, before a freak incident left the interim champ injured.
Yesterday, Conor McGregor’s bus attack also led to three other cancelled bouts.
Max Holloway stepped in to try and save the main event, but there were concerns about his massive weight cut all week. Friday morning, the featherweight champion failed to make it to the weigh ins and was subsequently declared “medically unfit to fight” by the New York State Athletic Commission.
Dana White announced it as the early weigh-ins were happening.
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
This from a member of Holloway’s team:
“Max wants to keep pushing and is close but the doctors came up and just stopped it. Doctors stopped it not us. Max was going.”
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 6, 2018
Anthony Pettis, who was originally supposed to fight Michael Chiesa before McGregor’s rampage caused multiple lacerations, has now been tapped to headline the event. White told reporters that it will still be for the lightweight title.
Told by @danawhite that @BlessedMMA max hollloway can’t fight….says @TeamKhabib will fight Anthony Pettis…
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) April 6, 2018
Dana White says @TeamKhabib @Showtimepettis will be for the lightweight belt.
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) April 6, 2018
It’s the day before UFC 223, and somehow the card will still have two title bouts and its third main event. Pettis has to successfully weigh in before all is made official though.
UPDATE: Anthony Pettis weighed in at 155.2 on his first try, and will still have an additional two hours to cut the remaining .2 pounds before the title bout is made official.
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