“This some sick joke” – When UFC fans thought Dana White played April Fool’s prank after announcing Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Max Holloway for title fight

On April 1st, 2018 Dana white announced Max Holloway vs Khabib Nurmagomedov for the vacant lightweight championship. The fight was announced for UFC 223 taking place in New York. The news at the time did not make sense and was surprising to say the very least. Dana White released the announcement video on the first of April, leading many to think of this as a joke by Dana White. Turns out the matchup was very real and left everyone astonished.

After Conor Mcgregor was stripped of his lightweight title in 2018, the situation at the lightweight became a bit precarious. While every fighter wanted to seize the lightweight gold not many had the record. Khabib Nurmagomedov wasn’t originally supposed to fight Max Holloway. The fight was originally planned between him and Tony Ferguson. It was the fourth time this fight was being targeted. ‘El Cucuy’ was the interim lightweight champion and ‘the Eagle’ was coming off a win against ‘Edson Barboza’. However, this matchup has a history of being canceled and was canceled for the 4th time.

Max Holloway stepped up at the very last moment. Dana White finally had a solid opponent this time with Max being the featherweight champion then. Dana White announced this fight on his Twitter and mentioned “Unfortunately this is not an April fool’s joke. Tony Ferguson is out of the match due to his knee injury”. Thereby announcing the new main event for UFC 223.

Many were still reluctant to believe Max was actually fighting for the title as he had stepped on six days’ notice. The time frame was too short for any fighter excluding Max. This fight too However was canceled and Khabib finally had to fight Laquinta. Khabib dominated his opponent and went on to win the title via decision.

BOOM!!!!!! We got Khabib vs The Champ Max Holloway for the 155lb title this Saturday in Brooklyn New York!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/quvI3UqGXh

— danawhite (@danawhite) April 1, 2018

Related: Arnold who? Fight fans in shock as Max Holloway’s next opponent looks jacked at 169 pounds

Why was Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Max Holloway called off few days before the fight?

Even though the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway did not happen, it is widely regarded by MMA fans as one of the best-booked UFC fights ever. Khabib was coming off a win against Edson Barboza and Max Holloway was the featherweight champ during the time. The fight between these two would have surely been fun to watch. But just like some of the best matchups at lightweight, this one was destined to be scrapped.

The match was originally planned between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. Tony Ferguson however, had to pull out of the fight due to a knee injury. Canceling this fight for the 4th time in a row. Max Holloway decided to step up for this fight on six days’ notice. But six days’ notice is really less time, to prepare for a fight. The match ended up being scrapped by the UFC. The New York State Athletic Commission deemed Holloway medically unfit for this bout. The biggest reason cited was problems with Holloway’s weight cut.

According to the NYSAC, they didn’t like how Holloway looked at 160 lbs and called off the fight to avoid further harm. Khabib then went on to fight Laquinta for the vacant title. He defeated Laquinta via decision starting his reign as UFC lightweight champion

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