UFC 223 gets new main event amid McGregor sideshow
Nurmagomedov vs. Iaquinta now the headliner, but not necessarily for title
UFC has a main event for its New York return.
Al Iaquinta, a winner of five straight bouts, will step in and fight in the main event of UFC 223 tonight after two other challengers were forced to drop out.
Iaquinta has agreed to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight bout at Barclays Center, steadying a promotion thrown into upheaval following criminal charges against star Conor McGregor.
Max Holloway had been preparing to fight Nurmagomedov on just six days’ notice after original challenger Tony Ferguson injured a knee. But Holloway was unable to reach the weight limit for the bout and was ruled out by the UFC medical team on Friday.
Holloway apologized on Twitter, saying he wants “to keep going but they are stopping me. Sorry to your team and the fans.”
UFC then scrambled to find a last-second sub for Holloway in the headline bout at a sold-out Barclays in Brooklyn.
Iaquinta, who was scheduled to fight Paul Felder, got the nod.
Iaquinta did not meet the 155-pound limit — he came in at 155.2 — when he weighed in Friday morning for his fight against Felder before Holloway was scratched.
Nurmagomedov, a native Russian, will become the lightweight champ should he win. Iaquinta will not be crowned the champ with a victory. UFC President Dana White said Friday night he could decide to make Iaquinta the champ with a victory. “If he wins, we’ll figure it out,” White said. UFC offered full refunds because of the changes to the main event.
Holloway already was the 145-pound champion and was trying to become a twodivision champ by beating the undefeated Nurmagomedov in the 155-pound title fight. Holloway and Nurmagomedov were fighting for the lightweight title left vacant by McGregor’s nearly 18-month absence.
The original card had shaped up as the best of the year and White said it was trending toward the best pay-per-view buy rate since McGregor’s last fight at UFC 205.
But the backstage melee that McGregor allegedly instigated because of his anger toward Nurmagomedov instead has forced the removal of three fights because of injuries from the attack.
“To be honest, I hope he’s going to fix his problem,” Nurmagomedov said of McGregor. “We have to fix our problems between me and him. Inside the cage or outside the cage, it doesn’t matter, we have to fix this.”
Artem Lobov, a close friend of McGregor’s, was pulled from the card for his involvement. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were hurt in the mayhem and forced off the card.
Video footage appears to show the UFC’s most bankable star throwing a hand truck at a bus full of fighters on Thursday after a news conference at the arena. McGregor was released Friday on $50,000 bond.
McGregor stole the headlines while UFC matchmakers worked behind the scenes on a new main event. Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was available after his fight against Chiesa fell through. Felder, an actor-turned-MMA fighter, was another lightweight on the main card who offered to fight Nurmagomedov but his request was denied.
Felder, who has won three straight fights and five of six, wrote on Twitter that the state athletic commission said he was not ranked high enough to earn the title shot.
“I tried to get it. Commission is stopping it,” he tweeted.
Felder and Pettis will receive bouts at a later date. White said all fighters bumped off the card will be paid.
The co-main event has Rose Namajunas defending the 115-pound UFC strawweight championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk.