UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is moving up in weight to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov in a lightweight war in the main event of UFC 223. That being said, the fighter’s manager has his concerns when it comes to Holloway making weight.
UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson was initially set to face off against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed title at UFC 223. However, Ferguson has since suffered an injury.
With Ferguson out of the fight, Holloway accepted the replacement spot on just six days notice. Holloway’s manager Brian Butler-Au recently spoke with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour to offer his thoughts on the matter.
Butler-Au explained that he is mostly concerned with Holloway’s ability to make weight for the fight.
“The only the concern that I had was, can he make the weight in time? I mean, it’s six days away, and he’s got like an 18-hour flight from Hawaii to hop on. So, Max didn’t hesitate at all. He immediately said to me, his exact words were, ‘Let’s f*cking do it, bro. This is how legends are made.’ That’s exactly what he said to me.
“Then I said we’ve got to let (nutritionist) George (Lockhart) crunch the numbers. because I don’t want the weight cut — I’m sure he can make the weight; I want him to make it healthy and I don’t want it to have any long-term effects on him. So George crunched the numbers, it took about an hour, hour-and-a-half for George to do all of that, check everything out. Came back, said he can do it, said he can 100 percent do it. It’s gonna be a grind for him, but if anybody can do it, he said Max can and he can do it in a healthy manner. So after that, it was just on.”
