Max Holloway will be moving up a division to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 after an offer made to Tony Ferguson was turned down. The famously recognized ‘El Cucuy’ last competed in the Octagon against Anthony Pettis, during their 155-pound clash at UFC 229’s co-main event. Ferguson went on to win the fight, opening doors for a speculated championship matchup against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Following the hearing in regards to the UFC 229 post-fight melee, Nurmagomedov is expected to return to the UFC only by November of 2019. In the meantime, the absence of Khabib meant that the UFC would now include an interim championship belt. On Friday last week, the UFC confirmed that Holloway would be moving up to the lightweight division to face Dustin Poirier for the interim belt at UFC 236. After the case of Tony Ferguson was brought up by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in an interview with Dana White, the president of the UFC confessed that Ferguson had, in fact, turned that fight down.
According to UFC president Dana White, Tony Ferguson was offered the interim lightweight title fight against Max Holloway, and he turned it down. I have reached out to Ferguson for comment.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 23, 2019
In a recent tweet posted by Tony Ferguson, the number one lightweight contender cites the reason for disagreement to be purely financial. However, this would mean that the winner of the interim bout at UFC 236, will ideally face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title on his return to the UFC. Leaving Ferguson out of the picture seems odd considering his status as the number one lightweight contender. But, with that being said, it will be interesting to see what the UFC has in store for the lightweight division on Khabib’s supposed return in November.
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