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Max Holloway has been ruled out of his upcoming featherweight showdown against Yair Rodriguez, ESPN reports.
Holloway and Rodriguez were set to square off in a highly anticipated meeting of two elite level strikers that, in the eyes of many, would’ve determined the next challenger to the UFC featherweight title.
Max Holloway out - anyone in?
Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega will battle it out for the belt later this year but prior to that, the plan appeared to be for the UFC to establish a new number one contender through this contest. Alas, that won’t be the case, with Max Holloway being unable to compete as a result of an undisclosed injury.
The UFC is set to search for a replacement to take on Rodriguez on July 17, with division stalwarts Edson Barboza and Giga Chikadze throwing their names into the hat.
However, as of this writing, it’s not yet known how long Max Holloway will be out for, with some hoping this bout can be rearranged for when 'Blessed' is back to full fitness.
Whether or not that happens is anyone’s guess but for the time being all we know is that Max Holloway is injured, and we all want to wish him the best of luck in his recovery.
Holloway started off the UFC’s year with an emphatic win over Calvin Kattar that, in more ways than one, proved to the world why he may well be the best non-champion in mixed martial arts right now.
There’s no way of knowing that for sure, of course, but after two close losses to Volkanovski, plenty of his supporters were of the belief that the third time would be the charm for him.
The trilogy fight may still happen down the road but Yair Rodriguez will just want to get himself back in the octagon as soon as he possibly can. He’s been out of action since October 2019 when he beat Jeremy Stephens and given his talent, that’s an incredibly long time to be away.
All we can do is keep our fingers crossed that Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez happens soon, and Max recovers well.
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