The UFC does have a main event for tonight’s pay-per-view telecast.
It isn’t the one Hawaii was hoping for.
Waianae’s Max Holloway was denied an opportunity Opens in a new tab to win a world title in a second weight class tonight when the New York State Athletic Commission deemed the UFC featherweight champion medically unfit to fight on Friday, pulling him from a UFC lightweight title bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov that was supposed to headline UFC 223 tonight in Brooklyn. N.Y.
The UFC announced Friday afternoon that Al Iaquinta would step in to challenge Nurmagomedov for the vacant 155-pound title.
Holloway, who took the fight on six days’ notice after interim champion Tony Ferguson had to withdraw with a knee injury suffered late last week, needed to cut to 155 pounds by 6 a.m. Hawaii time to make the bout official.
Roughly two hours before the end of the weigh-in time, doctors from the commission said Holloway was too heavy to cut the rest of the weight and axed the fight without giving Holloway the allotted time to finish his weight cut.
According to a source in the Holloway camp, Holloway was “3 pounds away” from making the 155-pound limit. He was on target to make the weight in the allotted time, but the commission ruled against Holloway before he could cut the last few pounds.
Holloway apologized to Nurmagomedov on Twitter, saying, “I want to keep going but they are stopping me. Sorry to your team and the fans. You don’t deserve this.”
Iaquinta, who was scheduled to fight Paul Felder on the undercard, was promoted to the main event to fight Nurmagomedov after weighing in at 155.2 pounds for his fight with Felder.
Iaquinta did not meet the 155-pound limit for a championship fight, which he wasn’t expecting to, so only Nurmagomedov can become the champion with a win. UFC President Dana White said, however, that he could declare Iaquinta the champion with a victory.
“If he wins, we’ll figure it out.” White said.
Holloway was attempting to join Conor McGregor as the only fighters to hold world titles in different weight classes at the same time.
McGregor was arraigned on Friday on charges of felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor assault and menacing and reckless endangerment following an incident backstage at a media event on Thursday in which McGregor is seen on video throwing a hand truck at a bus full of fighters, breaking a window.
It caused two fights to be canceled from the show because of injuries suffered from the broken glass.
The UFC 223 pay-per-view will consist of nine fights instead of the 13 originally scheduled.
Holloway, the 145-pound champion, is expected to defend his belt in his next fight against Brian Ortega, who is 14-0 as a professional.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
