Max Holloway reacts after defeating Will Chope during their UFC Fight Night Singapore featherweight bout (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
An injury has forced Max Holloway to pull out of his fight against Yair Rodriguez next month
Max Holloway was scheduled to fight Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC on ESPN 26. However, he has been forced to withdraw due to an injury.
The news was first reported by ESPN and it has been learnt that the UFC is planning to reschedule the event rather than naming a replacement fighter.
Holloway, last faced Calvin Kattar in the main event of the first 2021 UFC event. In one of the most dominant and one-sided games of all time, Holloway landed a whopping 445 strikes in the whole fight.
He is currently ranked number 1 in the featherweight rankings.
Rodriguez, on the other hand will be a gutted man. He hasn’t fought since his rematch win against Jeremy Stephens in October 2019. And it looks like he will have to wait a lot further, since the UFC are not planning to name a replacement fighter.
Rodrigues is number 3 in the UFC’s featherweight rankings.
Although the UFC has revealed that they have been working on rescheduling the fight, one can’t overlook the few fighters who are willing to step in his replacements.
Giga Chikadze and veteran Edson Barboza have been named as the frontrunners. Chikadze is currently ranked number 10 in the featherweight rankings.
Barboza, on the other hand, is coming off a victory against Shane Burgos at UFC 262. He has been a part of the UFC November 2010.
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