Brian Ortega Wants Featherweight Title Vacated Due To Holloway ‘Water Poisoning’
Weight cutting continues to be a hot topic in MMA circles.
Whether it was Michael Chiesa nearly dying in his attempt to make the non-title lightweight limit of 156 pounds at UFC 226, or the revelation that featherweight champion Max “Blessed” Holloway would not be competing at the same event, it would seem the UFC has a real problem with its athletes cutting far to much weight.
Holloway would be removed from the co-main event last Saturday night (July 7th, 2018) for what was thought to be concussion-like symptoms. Now, just three short days later, a new theory has emerged, that of ‘water poisoning’ due to Holloway consuming too much water.
“We heard that he was water loading, which is super dangerous,” UFC President Dana White told Kevin Iole. “When you water load, and I didn’t know this for those of you out there that might not know, either, there is such thing as water poisoning. And you can actually drink too much water and die from it.”
The removal of Holloway left the No. 1-ranked Brian Ortega opponent-less for UFC 226. Albeit, he had some suiters, namely Jeremy Stephens and Frankie Edgar both nearly stepped in to challenge the jiu-jitsu ace. Ortega untimely decided to wait for his title shot, a decision that has garnered some pushback from fans.
With the champions immediate future uncertain, Ortega revealed on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” a potential solution to this unfortunate situation.
“From what I’m getting now, they said that Max might not fight for a long time, and he might not even fight 145. So I told them then, make the belt vacant and then I’ll fight whoever you guys want me to fight ASAP. I’ll fight them at UFC 227 here in Staples (Center in Los Angeles) but let’s get that situated.”
Let us know what you think. Is stripping Max Holloway of the featherweight title the way to go?
