UFC 226 pay-per-view (PPV) suffered a big bump on Wednesday night when it was revealed that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway had been pulled out of his co-main title bout with undefeated Brian Ortega due to ‘concussion-like symptoms.’
‘Blessed’ team reported Holloway was admitted in Hospital on Monday night with slurred speech and blurred vision. He stayed overnight and released the next day, but at UFC 226 open workout on Wednesday he crashed and had a hard time to get up. That led to a decision made he can’t compete at UFC 226.
UFC tried their utmost efforts to find a replacement for Holloway last night, reached out to Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens to throw down for interim title bout this Saturday night (July 7, 2018) in Las Vegas, Nevada. But unfortunately ‘Answer’ needed more time to prepare, according to ESPN.
Per sources, the UFC tried to make Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens for interim featherweight title late, late last night, but it’s just too short of notice for Edgar. He wanted to do it, I’m told, but wasn’t feasible.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 5, 2018
Per sources, the UFC tried to make Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens for interim featherweight title late, late last night, but it’s just too short of notice for Edgar. He wanted to do it, I’m told, but wasn’t feasible.
Edgar already defeated Stephens via unanimous decision at UFC 205 in New York.
There are initial reports that Holloway is returning at UFC 227 opposite Brian Ortega.
Most recently Edgar is coming off a knockout loss to Ortega and Stephens is riding on three straight and is expected to face Jose Aldo at UFC on FOX 30 later this month in Calgary.
