UFC 223 is a card hit heavy by a whole bunch of issues, from the originally-scheduled main event of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson scratched for the fourth time to Connor McGregor assaulting a bus containing Nurmagomedov and a number of other fighters on the card, leading to more fight cancellations. Max Holloway originally took over for Ferguson, and then himself was replaced by Al Iaquinta, the current headliner.
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The co-main event between Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship has been unaffected and will go on as scheduled, fortunately.
The card will go on without the UFC Fight Pass preliminary fights, as it has been reduced to nine total fights down from 11. Fox Sports 1 has four prelim bouts beginning at 8 p.m. ET, while the pay-per-view main card will begin at 10 p.m., as scheduled. Online streaming can be had via UFC.TV, the UFC YouTube channel, and for the prelims: fuboTV and Fox Sports GO.
Holloway was replaced because the Nevada State Athletic Commission deemed him medically unfit to compete during his surprise weight cut for the bout. Anthony Pettis was also mentioned as a possibility, but weighed in over the 155-pound limit and did not make a second attempt. They then tried to get Paul Felder, who was set to Iaquinta on the card, but the NSAC once again refused the bout, this one because Felder is not ranked on the official UFC rankings, which essentially nobody else pays attention to anyway.
Thus, Iaquinta is in, though because he also weighed in at 155.2 pounds, he will not be eligible for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Nurmagomedov, though, is still fighting for that belt, which is being taken from McGregor.
As a result of McGregor’s attack on Nurmagomedov’s bus, his teammate, Artem Lobov, was pulled from the card and the match against Alex Caceres was scrapped. Michael Ciesa, originally scheduled to face Pettis on the card, was pulled from the bout due to multiple cuts sustained as a result of McGregor’s attack. A flyweight bout between Ray Borg and Brandon Moreno was also scrapped when Borg had issues related to glass shards in his eye, also from the McGregor incident.
McGregor turned himself into the New York Police Department and had a hearing on Friday, where bail was set. He was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. McGregor’s next hearing is expected to take place on June 14.
Namajunas scored a knockout of Jędrzejczyk in their first meeting in November 2017, winning the title off of her previously-undefeated foe. Jędrzejczyk claims she had a bad weight cut and prior to that, was looking like the most dominant champion in the sport. It should probably be the real headliner, but either way, it’s definitely worth watching.
