The biggest piece of disappointing news for this UFC 223 fight week was the sudden pullout of Tony Ferguson from his scheduled headliner title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov. As Ferguson himself explained, it happened during a pre-fight media obligation on Friday where he slipped and tore a ligament in his knee.
As a consequence, the UFC tapped featherweight champion Max Holloway to step in with just a few days’ notice to replace Ferguson. At the same time, they also decided to strip Ferguson of the interim title, which “El Cucuy” responded to on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.