This is just awful.
Max Holloway told his management team, last Sunday evening, that he was ready to become a UFC legend.
Six gruelling, unforgettable days later and he has been left spent and without a title fight.
The Hawaiian may go by the moniker ‘Blessed’ but this week’s events have begged to differ. Holloway was declared medically unfit to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC 223 main event, which was supposed to be for the undisputed lightweight belt.
The UFC featherweight [145lbs] was attempting to cut down to 155lbs [championship weight] after apparently weighing over 175lbs last weekend. He got close but not close enough to satisfy medics, the New York State Athletic Commission and the UFC.
An NYSAC spokesperson told reporters at the weigh-in, quite simply, that a joint decision had been made to pull Holloway from the proposed main event bout.
MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani was covering the weigh-ins live but briefly left his post to get a statement from Holloway’s team. It read:
‘Max wants to keep pushing [to make weight] and is close to it but the doctors came up and stopped it. The doctors stopped it, not us. Max was going.’
He was going until common sense prevailed and the decision was made. The 26-year-old may not have fared at all well had he been allowed to fight the 25-0 Nurmagomedov after such a drastic, punishing weight cut.
For a sports star that has dedicated his life to the game to be stopped in his tracks so close to the weigh-in finish line has to be a hard one to take.
Once the dreadful news dawned on Holloway, he was quick to apologise to Nurmagomedov and give a shout-out to the man attempting to step in at late, late notice – Anthony Pettis.
. @TeamKhabib my brother I want to keep going but they are stopping me. Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this. This is number one. Shout outs to you and @Showtimepettis . Give the fans what they deserve
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) April 6, 2018
What a crazy 24 hours after an equally hectic week in the UFC.
