The champion had a pretty terrible 2018, pulling out of several fights, including a previously scheduled bout against Ortega at UFC 226. Holloway says everything is going well heading into UFC 231 and he’s going to make it to the Octagon on that night.
”We’re going to make it, man. No ‘knock on wood’ or anything like that,” Holloway told ESPN. “I’m blessed. Things have been unfortunate this year, but I’m in a good place right now. I can’t put into words the energy we have, everything is great. I can’t wait for fight week. It’s been way too long.”
It would appear that the UFC is making sure fans get their featherweight title bout at UFC 231 because a report from MMA Fighting is stating that Renato Moicano has been pegged as the alternate in case either the champion or the challenger don’t make it to fight night. Moicano was originally set to face Mirsad Bektic at the same event, but Bektic withdrew from the bout due to injury.
Moicano (13-1-1) enters the potential bout on the strength of a two fight winning streak, having defeated the duo of Calvin Kattar and Cub Swanson. Moicano has suffered just a single defeat as a professional MMA fighter and that came against Brian Ortega at UFC 214. Moicano has seen seven of his fourteen professional MMA fights go the distance and Moicano has won all of those bouts.
UFC 231 takes place on Saturday, December 8 from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with Max Holloway and Brian Ortega headlining. Fightful is going to be providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
