Report: Max Holloway, Brian Ortega Title Fight Set for UFC 231
Max
Holloway appears to be
feeling much better following a medical scare just prior to his
scheduled title defense at UFC 226, as MMAJunkie is reporting that “Blessed” will
return to face No. 1 contender Brian
Ortega at UFC 231
in Toronto on Dec. 8 at ScotiaBank Arena.
Holloway was pulled from his bout against Ortega a few days prior to UFC 226 due to what was called concussion-like symptoms. However, the 26-year-old Hawaiian dispelled a rumor that he was knocked out in sparring during his camp and denies he suffered a stroke, as was also reported.
“There’s rumors going around that I got knocked out in training and
I wish it was that so we could just write it down and be like,
‘Look, this is what happened,'” Holloway told
Ariel Helwani in July. “And we could move on from it. That
didn’t happen. We had hard training days, but I didn’t suffer a
concussion at all. I wish the answer was that simple. That’s why
it’s so confusing. It would be easy to move forward if we knew what
happened. Not just for me, for my mom, my family and my whole team.
We’re struggling with it right now.”
Holloway nearly had a shot at becoming a two-division champion when he agreed to face Khabib Nurmagomedov on short notice for the lightweight belt at UFC 223, but the Hawaiian was ultimately deemed medically unfit to compete due to weight cut issues. “Blessed” last appeared at UFC 218, where he made his first official defense of the featherweight strap with a third-round stoppage of Jose Aldo.
Ortega, meanwhile, earned his No. 1 contender’s spot with a brutal first-round knockout of Frankie Edgar in the UFC 222 co-main event. The win improved “T-City” to 14-0 with one no contest over the course of his professional tenure. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace turned down a late-replacement bout with Jeremy Stephens after Holloway pulled out of UFC 226, and then doubled down on the controversial business decision:
“I’m a businessman, a company man, but I’m no yes man,” Ortega wrote on Instagram. “Watching the fights last night knowing I could have been performing for all of you truly took a toll on me. I stand by my decision. Thank you to all of you who showed up to support and respected my decision. For those of you who don’t agree with me I completely understand and promise to give you guys the show of your life when I fight for the title.”
Holloway was pulled from his bout against Ortega a few days prior to UFC 226 due to what was called concussion-like symptoms. However, the 26-year-old Hawaiian dispelled a rumor that he was knocked out in sparring during his camp and denies he suffered a stroke, as was also reported.
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Holloway nearly had a shot at becoming a two-division champion when he agreed to face Khabib Nurmagomedov on short notice for the lightweight belt at UFC 223, but the Hawaiian was ultimately deemed medically unfit to compete due to weight cut issues. “Blessed” last appeared at UFC 218, where he made his first official defense of the featherweight strap with a third-round stoppage of Jose Aldo.
Ortega, meanwhile, earned his No. 1 contender’s spot with a brutal first-round knockout of Frankie Edgar in the UFC 222 co-main event. The win improved “T-City” to 14-0 with one no contest over the course of his professional tenure. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace turned down a late-replacement bout with Jeremy Stephens after Holloway pulled out of UFC 226, and then doubled down on the controversial business decision:
“I’m a businessman, a company man, but I’m no yes man,” Ortega wrote on Instagram. “Watching the fights last night knowing I could have been performing for all of you truly took a toll on me. I stand by my decision. Thank you to all of you who showed up to support and respected my decision. For those of you who don’t agree with me I completely understand and promise to give you guys the show of your life when I fight for the title.”
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