JAMM AQUINO / 2017
Max Holloway talks to the news media at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. The UFC featherweight champion will step in as an injury replacement for Tony Ferguson and fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 223 on Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Max Holloway’s return to the cage is happening much sooner than expected.
The UFC featherweight champion will step in as an injury replacement for Tony Ferguson and fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 223 on Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The UFC announced the fight on Sunday after finding out Ferguson suffered a knee injury and had to pull out of the headline fight just a week out.
Holloway, who had to pull out of a fight against Frankie Edgar that was supposed to headline UFC 222 last month, has recovered from an ankle injury.
The fight will be five rounds for the undisputed 155-pound title. Ferguson holds the interim title and Conor McGregor is considered the lightweight champion, but hasn’t fought in 17 months. Both will be stripped of their titles.
Holloway, who scored a third-round TKO of Jose Aldo in his last fight in
December, has an opportunity to join McGregor as
the only fighters to hold multiple world titles at the same time.
McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Randy Couture and B.J. Penn are the only fighters who have won world titles in different weight classes.
Holloway (19-3, 15-3 UFC), who usually fights at 145 pounds, has won his last 12 fights. Nurmagomedov has won all eight of his fights in the UFC and has never lost in 25 professional bouts.
Nurmagomedov is ranked No. 14 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings and Holloway is No. 6.
The co-main event for UFC 223 is a UFC women’s strawweight title fight between champion Rose Namajunas and former titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
