Max Holloway reacts to Khabib Nurmagomedov's UFC retirement
Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has bid farewell to Khabib Nurmagomedov following the latter's official retirement from the UFC.
Following Dana White's confirmation of Khabib Nurmagomedov's exit from the promotion, Max Holloway took to Twitter to congratulate the undefeated fighter on an illustrious career. 'Blessed' also expressed his desire to visit Dagestan (Nurmagomedov's hometown) someday.
Following news of his official retirement from the promotion, Khabib Nurmagomedov tipped his hat to UFC president Dana White and also thanked his supporters via social media:
"Dana - I’ll never forget your attitude towards me, my father did not forget and my sons will remember you. Today there was a real conversation between real men. Also thank you to all team, sparing partners and all fans. I hope you will accept my decision and understand me."
Max Holloway vs Khabib Nurmagomedov: a dream fight that never came to fruition
Max Holloway and Khabib Nurmagomedov were scheduled to fight at UFC 223, after Tony Ferguson had to pull out because of a reported injury during fight week. Holloway was ecstatic to test himself against the number one P4P ranked fighter.
“The chance of fighting someone of that stature, and I pride myself for fighting anybody, anywhere, any time, any weight class… He was already considered the number one pound-for-pound guy in the world before he even had the belt. He was one of the scariest dudes, they said. I just wanted to fight him”, said Holloway (transcribed by Bloodyelbow.com)
But just a few days away from the headliner bout, the New York Commission deemed the Hawaiian medically unfit to fight. Holloway was shattered upon getting the news as he was merely four pounds away from making weight for the fight.
In his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Holloway elaborated on the entire fiasco:
“I’m like four pounds away from making the weight. I’m going like, ‘It’s tough, but I’m gonna get there. I know I’m gonna get there,’”. “And then they come in and they check, and we have, like, hours left before weigh-ins. They come in, they check, they looked at me and they said, ‘You don’t look good. You can’t do it.’ That’s all that happened. And they walked out. I wasn’t fighting. I was like,’ What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘You look skinny.’ I was like, ‘Coming down, losing weight, I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna look like how I first met you on f—king Monday. What is going on?’”