UFC 222 just got hit in a major way, losing its main event fight.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway suffered a leg injury during training and will not be able to defend his title against Frankie Edgar. The fight was supposed to headline the pay-per-view show from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 3.
UFC has not made any official announcement regarding Holloway’s injury but is expected to do so soon.
As far as what the new main event will be, nothing has been set in stone, but UFC is exploring options to salvage the main event. There’s no word on if Edgar will fight another opponent on the card, whether it would be a non-title fight or an interim featherweight title fight with the winner facing Holloway once he is healthy.
It has been an increasingly frustrating time for the company in getting Holloway and Edgar to fight. The two were supposed to fight at UFC 218 in Detroit, but Edgar suffered an injury and wasn't able to challenge for the title. Holloway ended up at facing Jose Aldo instead with Holloway picking up the win.
Edgar, who has been fighting for UFC since 2007, has not fought since last May when he defeated Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211. This would have been Edgar's third attempt at capturing the UFC featherweight or interim featherweight title, losing both times to Aldo.
Fightful will have complete coverage of UFC 222 on March 3.