Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/04/06/khabib-nurmagomedov-vs-al-iaquinta-is-the-new-main-event-of-ufc-223/
After one of the most dramatic weeks in UFC history, the UFC 223 card has yet another new main event for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Max Holloway was deemed medically unfit to continue cutting weight on Friday morning and was removed from his short-notice fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight championship. Holloway accepted the fight after original opponent Tony Ferguson was injured with a torn LCL last week and removed from the bout.
The UFC attempted to secure several fighters to take Holloway’s spot and landed on Al Iaquinta, who was scheduled to fight Paul Felder in a lightweight bout on Saturday night.
The fight will be five-rounds with Nuramgomedov eligible to win the title, but not Iaquinta.
Iaquinta weighed 155.2 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in and therefore was above the weight limit for a championship fight.
Due to the shuffling of the card, Anthony Pettis and Paul Felder are both left without opponents and are not scheduled to fight Saturday. Pettis was scheduled to fight Michael Chiesa, who suffered several wounds after the bus attack by Conor McGregor and his team on Thursday. In addition, Ray Borg was injured during the attack and was forced out of his fight with Brandon Moreno. The UFC also removed Artem Lobov from the card due to his participation in the attack, where several objects were thrown at the fighter bus with glass shattering and injuring several fighters.