Holloway has been pulled from three different fights this year, including two the week of the fightgetty images
Featherweight champion Max Holloway this week became the "latest in a string of big-fight cancellations that have plagued the UFC's past year and the annual International Fight Week event," according to Lance Pugmire of the L.A. TIMES. Counting last July's UFC 213, when Amanda Nunes "fell ill on the morning of her scheduled main-event title defense, nine of 14 pay-per-view cards have lost either a main-, co-main or former-champion fighter due to injury or weight issues." Fighters have "struggled for solutions." Fighter Khalil Rountree said unexpected cancellations are the "nature of the beast," as training "involves punches and kicks." He added, "You can't prepare without doing it" (L.A. TIMES, 7/6). In Las Vegas, Case Keefer notes Holloway's cancellation "marked the fourth straight year that the UFC’s annual July spectacle has lost a headliner in a championship bout less than 10 days before fight night." Fights fall through "all the time in mixed martial arts, but rarely are they both high profile and last minute on a seemingly continuous string at the same event." Even when they do fall through, fans "tend to forget" about the cancellations in the long-term "if the fight card still delivers." That "hasn’t been the case the last two years at T-Mobile Arena." UFC 200 was "one of the most highly anticipated events in promotional history two years ago, but the consensus was it didn’t live up to expectations." UFC President Dana White said that the outfit "purposely loaded up this year’s card so it could endure a last-minute injury like Holloway’s if necessary" (LASVEGASSUN.com, 7/6).
CAN'T CATCH A BREAK: In Honolulu, Billy Hull notes Holloway has been "pulled from three different scheduled fights this year, including two the week of the fight." He had to "pull out of a featherweight title defense against Frankie Edgar in March due to an ankle injury." Holloway later agreed to "step up in weight to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov on six days notice in April for the vacant 155-pound title but was pulled from the fight by doctors with an hour to go to make weight the day before" the fight. Holloway then attempted to "cut 30 pounds in less than a week and was three pounds shy of the 155-pound limit when doctors deemed him unfit to fight" (HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER, 7/6).
