Max Holloway ‘Unfit to Fight’ at UFC 223; Four Bouts Now Canceled
The Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight scheduled to be the main event at UFC 223 on Saturday has been canceled, making it the fourth bout on the card to be called off since Thursday.
Holloway was declared medically unfit to fight before Friday’s weigh-in, UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Holloway took the fight on just six days notice after Tony Ferguson was forced to pull out of the event due to a freak knee injury.
The fight card is now in total disarray. Three matches were already canceled after Conor McGregor attacked a bus at the event’s media day on Thursday. McGregor allegedly threw a guard rail and a hand truck at a bus carrying fighters, shattering the windows.
The Michael Chiesa-Anthony Pettis lightweight bout was canceled due to facial lacerations suffered by Chiesa in the incident. Ray Borg was forced to withdraw from his fight against Brandon Moreno because he had shards of glass in his eye. McGregor’s teammate, Artem Lobov, was yanked from his featherweight fight against Alex Caceres for his role in the incident.
UFC is reportedly hoping to have Pettis fight Nurmagomedov but Pettis has to make weight first. He weighed in at 155.2 pounds and has to get under 155 by 1 p.m. ET in order for the fight to happen.
