Since winning the interim featherweight championship earlier this month by TKOing Anthony Pettis, it was reported by recently-promoted featherweight champion Jose Aldo that he and Max Holloway would be fighting at UFC 208 in Brooklyn in February.
Unfortunately, following Holloway’s win over Pettis, it was revealed that he had suffered an ankle injury and would be unable to compete at UFC 208. Holloway released a statement on the matter, pointing out that Aldo should not be criticizing his decision given the fact that he has pulled out of six fights.
“This guy is the last guy who should be talking about injuries. This mother (expletive) is the last guy that should be talking about injuries and being able to fight,” Holloway said. “He wants to talk about he never turned down an opponent in his life and he don’t pick his opponents. I can clearly — he said this, not me — he got offered to fight me. He got offered to fight me at (UFC) 205 and 206 and he would not fight me. He said he would rather fight Anthony Pettis and then he didn’t take that fight either. He’s saying ‘I don’t turn down fights’ — go ask Sean Shelby if Max Holloway ever turned down a fight. I never turned down a fight in my life.”
In addition, Holloway has projected that he will be returning to the Octagon near the end of April or the beginning of May:
“I want to make sure I take care of this injury, heal up and then maybe beginning of May or the end of April if that works. With injuries, I’ve been able to heal pretty quick but they told me four to six weeks so we’ll see how it is,”
With all that being said, all that was missing was a photo of the injury which will force Holloway out of the fight.
Damon Martin has the pic:
Here's a photo of @BlessedMMA ankle in reference to my interview with him last night. Courtesy of @SuckerPunchEnt https://t.co/XZIUqJi3U6 pic.twitter.com/3Ee0GhHibh
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) December 21, 2016
@DamonMartin @SuckerPunchEnt haters gonna say it's fake smh lol
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) December 21, 2016