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Tony Ferguson out, 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.
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 win over former featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 218. The Hawaiian native’s next move had not yet been announced prior to this short-notice assignment.
With the change to the card, the UFC 223 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov – for lightweight title
- Champ Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for women’s strawweight title
- Calvin Kattar vs. Renato Moicano
- Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis
- Paul Felder vs. Al Iaquinta
PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)
- Felice Herrig vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Ray Borg vs. Brandon Moreno
- Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Joe Lauzon
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Evan Dunham
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Alex Caceres vs. Artem Lobov
- Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Bec Rawlings
- Devin Clark vs. Michael Rodriguez
- Kyle Bochniak vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov
For more on UFC 223, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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