Last weekend’s co-main event at UFC 226 was supposed to feature a 145-pound championship bout between Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Max Holloway and Brian Ortega. Holloway had to withdraw from the fight several days before the event with “concussion-like-symptoms” and Ortega was offered a replacement opponent, but declined and the co-main event was scrapped.
It was a similar situation with what former UFC featherweight champion Frankie Edgar went through at UFC 222 when Holloway pulled out of that fight. Edgar has the chance to wait for “Blessed” to recover but chose to stay active and accept the UFC’s proposal to fight the undefeated Brian Ortega.