UFC 223 will proceed with nine bouts — down from an initial 13 — on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but according to Dana White, there was a chance fans could have been left with nothing.
The UFC president said at a press conference Friday evening that the promotion considered cancelling the pay-per-view event altogether after everything that happened during fight week, including Conor McGregor’s Thursday rampage and the loss of the second UFC 223 headliner, Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Max Holloway.
“When you start looking at losing the main event — we lost three fights yesterday — it definitely was talked about,” White said.
On Thursday, McGregor, the UFC lightweight champion, made a surprise appearance at Barclays Center after UFC 223 media day. He and a group of friends attacked a bus that was transporting UFC fighters back to the host hotel, injuring multiple competing athletes. McGregor was taken into custody late Thursday night and released on bail Friday afternoon.
The McGregor incident caused three bout cancellations, as involved fighter Artem Lobov — a teammate and friend of McGregor’s — was pulled from his featherweight clash with Alex Caceres. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were both injured on the bus and not cleared to fight on Saturday.
The following morning, Holloway was deemed unfit to compete due to his weight cut and pulled from the lightweight title fight opposite Nurmagomedov. Al Iaquinta, who was set to face Paul Felder in the main-card opener, stepped up to face “The Eagle” on a day’s notice. Felder was subsequently removed from the card.
Despite the four cancellations, White and the UFC ultimately decided to go on with UFC 223, which also features a strawweight title rematch between champ Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
“At the end of the day, fans bought tickets, there’s people that flew in from other states and other countries,” White said. “You gotta roll, man. You gotta figure it out and get on with the show. So here we are, and we’ll be here tomorrow night.”
UFC 223 kicks off with four preliminary bouts on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.