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In the history of the UFC, an Orc has never competed inside the Octagon, and Max “Blue Carnage” Carlyle believes it is his destiny to be the first. Watch Bright, A Netflix Film, Now Streaming on Netflix.
UFC Fight Night: Stephens vs. Choi
Zak Cummings was expected to face former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Thiago Alves at the event. However just two days before the bout, Cummings injured himself after falling and the bout was canceled.[6]
At the weigh-ins, Mads Burnell weighed in at 150 pounds, 4 pounds over the featherweight non title fight upper limit of 146 pounds. As such, the bout will proceed at a catchweight and Burnell is expected to forfeit 20% of his purse to his opponent Mike Santiago. Meanwhile, Uriah Hall did not weigh in as he fainted en route to the weight-ins[7] and his fight against Vitor Belfort was canceled.
UFC 221
Robert Whittaker was to defend the championship against former Strikeforce and UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold in the main event,[9]however on January 13th it was announced that Whittaker had withdrawn from the event due to injury and was replaced by Yoel Romero. Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero will now fight for the Interim Middleweight Championship,[10] and the winner will then face Whittaker in a title unification bout.
Max Holloway now meets Khabib Nurmagomedov for undisputed lightweight title
Seriously.
UFC officials today announced UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has been forced to withdraw from Saturday’s UFC 223 headliner, and featherweight champion Max Holloway will now meet Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC’s undisputed lightweight title – a belt currently held by Conor McGregor, at least until “Blessed” and “The Eagle” step into the cage on Saturday night.
MMAjunkie subsequently confirmed the switch with UFC President Dana White. This now marks the fourth time the bout has been scheduled, though it has fallen apart for a variety of reasons each time. White told ESPN.com that Ferguson knee injury is the culprit this time around.
Ferguson (23-3 MMA, 13-1 UFC) is expected to be stripped of his interim title as a result of the withdrawal.
Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) is currently the No. 1-ranked featherweight in the world according to the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings. Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) is No. 3 in the lightweight division.
UFC 223 takes place Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Holloway, the current UFC featherweight champion, now looks to join Conor McGregor as the only fighters in UFC history to simultaneously hold titles in two different weightclasses. Holloway would also be the youngest fighter in UFC history to ever earn titles in multiple divisions.
Holloway was in action most recently in December, scoring a third-round TKO winover former featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 218. He was supposed to defend his 145-pound belt against Frankie Edgar at March’s UFC 222 card, but a Holloway ankle injury forced him out of the matchup. The Hawaiian native’s next move had not yet been announced prior to this short-notice assignment.
Damn.Max Holloway out of UFC 223 main event against Khabib Nurmagomedov
UFC 223 is having a rough week.
Featherweight champion Max Holloway has been pulled from Saturday’s main event fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov after being deemed medically unfit to compete. MMA Fighting confirmed the news Friday morning during UFC 223’s official weigh-ins following an initial report by ESPN.
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reported that commission doctors put a halt to Holloway’s weight cut in fear of his safety, however Holloway wished to continue. At the time of the decision, Holloway wanted to “keep pushing” and was “close,” a member of Holloway’s team told Helwani.
The loss of Holloway vs. Nurmagomedov marks the fourth fight to be scratched from UFC 223 over a 24-hour span, adding to the trio of fights lost on Thursday because of Conor McGregor’s attack on a fighter bus.
Holloway, 26, accepted the bout against Nurmagomedov on Sunday after an injury to Tony Ferguson derailed UFC 223’s main event six days out from fight night. Holloway’s nutritionist George Lockhart told MMA Fighting that Holloway’s impromptu weight cut was expected to be “tied for the largest weight cut” Lockhart had ever managed.
This sucks. I think Montano would have gotten murked by Valentina, but I think it would have been a better fight than most think. Montano is tough.Nicco Montano vs. Valentina Shevchenko UFC 228 title fight cancelation
UFC 228 lost a championship fight today when women’s flyweight champ Nicco Montano was hospitalized, forcing the cancelation of her planned title defense against Valentina Shevchenko.
Montano (4-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was sent to the hospital for precautionary reasons and ruled out of her planned defense against Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC), which was set to co-headline Saturday’s pay-per-view lineup following prelims on FX and UFC Fight Pass from American Airlines Center in Dallas.
The status of the 125-pound champ remains unknown at this time, but what is certain is that she will not be defending her belt at UFC 228. Shevchenko foreshadowed as much earlier in the week, claiming she would not believe the fight is going to happen until she was standing in the octagon.