MMA SUPERSTARS MAX Holloway and Dustin Poirier will headline UFC 236 in an interim lightweight title fight.
UFC President Dana White confirmed the news to ESPN yesterday, with featherweight champion Holloway set to move up to lightweight to challenge at the pay-per-view event at State Farm Arena, Atlanta on 13 April.
The UFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0) – who is serving a nine-month suspension for his role in the brawl after his UFC 229 win over Conor McGregor in October — could have been eligible for UFC 236, but he won’t.
Had he filmed an anti-bullying message in Nevada, his return would have come sooner but the Russian has said he does not intend to return until late this year.
I Have Been Offered A Fight, But Not Sure If It Meets Our Standards Crew. We Deserve Better For The Amount Of Work & Supoort We Put In. Team El Cucuy- Champ Shit Only 💯 @AudieAttar @ParadigmSM pic.twitter.com/BPw9mJSH2t
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) February 20, 2019
In his absence, an interim 155-pound title has been created. White says that California Tony Ferguson was offered the interim lighteweight title fight against Holloway (20-3), but he turned it down.
Louisiana native Poirier (24-5), meanwhile, hasn’t fought since July.
The UFC 236 co-main event is also pencilled in: an interim middleweight title fight between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya.
Murray Kinsella, Andy Dunne and Gavan Casey look ahead to Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with Italy and discuss the week’s biggest stories in the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly.
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