According to a report from ESPN, Max Holloway will face Dustin Poirier at UFC 236 for the interim lightweight championship. This announcement has an enormous amount of implications. Is Holloway, the featherweight champion, going to stay at lightweight if he wins? What does this rematch say about both competitors now? What is going to happen to Tony Ferguson, who apparently declined the opportunity to fight Holloway? What should? What does this mean for the future of UFC interim titles? This is an exciting fight, but feels like a strange way for the UFC to conduct business.
2019-02-27
I heard the reason Tony denied it is bc they're working on a Conor vs. Tony, sounds pretty good.
This entire screw up with Tony is, well, promotional malpractice.
Tony does not get to fight khabib next now, thats what he did to himself by turning it down
such a weird scenario I understand why tony rurned down the fight but IF max beats dustin and finishes him no way the ufc doesn't give the fight to max passing over tony again.
So totally frustrated and annoyed with the UFC over this nonsense. The UFC brass is compromising the middle and long term value of the company for insane efforts for short-term gain.
'The main problem is that the interim title doesn't guarantee anyone an actual title fight. It basically means you are next in line but if you are injured or won't fight and the champ/other guy next in line is still willing to fight without you, the show must go on. The thing that makes it crazy is that Tony got stripped when there wasn't even a champ in his division
Should they have stripped him under those circumstances? Actually, I think so considering that was about the 4th time they tried to book him against Khabib and it fell apart, now with Khabib out of commission again can you really blame them for not trying to book the dudes a 5th time almost a year from now and giving Tony the chance to earn a pay check and stay relevant and get to the front of the line again instead?
You get interim you get interim..oprah
I thought it was Khabib's legal team that put forward the reduction in suspension through an anti-bullying campaign?
MMA journalists are the most negative people in the world
Why not hold a tournament for these stupid interim belts??? It's sad they think we like the "interim belt".