Max Holloway was scheduled to defend his UFC Featherweight title against Brian Ortega at UFC 226 in Las Vegas on the undercard of the super fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. However, things didn’t go as planned and Holloway had to pull out of the card following his health scare and he had to be hospitalized.
But now MMA fans are all set to get the most awaited fight of the featherweight division as Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) and Ortega (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) are supposed meet at UFC 231, which will take place Dec. 8 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2018 hasn’t been a very good year for Max Holloway, He had three fights cancelled for a range of reasons that spread from UFC 222 due to injury, to UFC 223 for weight cut issue and another critical medical issue at UFC 226 in July. But going into UFC 231, he is not concerned about what happened in the past.
“That last fight was some freaking craziness,” Holloway told MMAjunkie in an interview. “It’s just crazy what happened. I feel great. I can’t wait to go ahead and do it. That last fight was just crazy circumstances. (Expletive) happens, so I can’t wait.”
Even though Max Holloway is riding on a 12-fight winning streak, his past problems with making weight and pulling out have had UFC assigning featherweight contender Moicano (13-1-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) as the backup fighter for UFC 231. Moicano earlier said that he’ll be ready to jump in for him if he wants to stay away from the Toronto cold and return to Hawaii.
“Tell Moicano, thank you for the offer, but I’ll be seeing him sooner or later,” Holloway said. “Just be ready for anything. Thank you for the offer. He’s a great dude, cool guy, awesome guy. That’s very funny. I look forward to seeing that guy, too, one day.”
“I would take him on three hours’ notice,” Holloway said. “I’ll take you on an hour’s notice. I don’t care. Everyone was like, ‘The Khabib (Nurmagomedov) fight, you’re crazy for taking this on a weeks’ notice.’ Look, they’re taking the fight with me. You’re taking a fight with me. I don’t care who it is. Whoever. They’ve got to remember who they’re fighting and who they’re fighting against, and that’s me.”
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