Losing Khabib Fight Was ‘Tough Pill To Swallow’ For Max Holloway
After Tony Ferguson suffered an injury that forced him to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 223 (April 7, 2018) main event against Khabib Nurmagomedov on less than one weeks’ notice, 145-pound champion Max Holloway decided to step up and accept a fight with Nurmagomedov for the undisputed lightweight title.
On weigh-in day, however, Holloway was deemed medically unfit to compete by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC).
And “Blessed” admits that when he received the news, it was ‘tough’ to handle:
“When they called it, the fighter in me wanted to fight no matter what,” Holloway told Hawaii News Now.
“Everybody keeps giving the commission a hard time, but they’re there to protect us,” Holloway said. ”They’re there to protect us for our own good. Who knows what would have happened if they let me go? But they checked vitals before, they did a vital check in the morning. The last one, they just didn’t like the way I looked. They called it, man. Tough. It was a tough one.
“A tough pill to swallow, but that’s what they’re there for. They’re there to protect the fighters. Like (UFC president Dana White) said, they’re there to protect us. This is history, but history can wait.”
As far as the weight cut goes, Holloway implied that he was only a few pounds away from hitting the 155-pound limit, although he also said that he came into fight week heavier than usual given that he wasn’t in a fight camp:
“The weight cut day I was cutting weight, they checked on me earlier that night. I went to sleep, they came check me early in the morning, right before weigh-ins. I had a couple more to go and they called it.
“I keep telling you guys I’m a big 145er, I was even a big 155er for this one,” Holloway said.
And in regards to what’s next for him, Holloway will now shift his focus back to featherweight where he’s next expected to defend his title against Brian Ortega:
“I saw Ortega was there, Ortega kept talking about how he wished it was him – blah, blah, this and that,” Holloway said. “I don’t know. Things happen for a reason. So I can’t wait to fight him. If that’s the next guy up, that’s the next guy up.
“I can’t wait to do the damn thing and get it done. If not, I heard they just announced the LA card, right? August. It would be fun, going into another king’s home to dethrone a king again.”
