{"id":378080,"date":"2021-03-05T11:18:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T19:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=378080"},"modified":"2021-03-05T11:18:38","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T19:18:38","slug":"max-holloway-laments-missed-khabib-nurmagomedov-fight-i-just-wanted-to-fight-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/max-holloway-laments-missed-khabib-nurmagomedov-fight-i-just-wanted-to-fight-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Holloway laments missed Khabib Nurmagomedov fight: “I just wanted to fight him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is still disappointed he didn’t have the chance to battle unbeaten lightweight star Khabib Nurmagomedov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Holloway was briefly slated to fight Nurmagomedov for the vacant lightweight title in 2014, but was pulled from the matchup at the eleventh hour by the New York State Athletic Commission.<\/p>\n

Speaking on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Holloway looked back on that nixed fight with Nurmagomedov, conceding that he’s still disappointed it didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Nutritionist George] Lockhart took me on for the fight,\u201d Holloway recalled (via Bloody Elbow<\/a>). \u201cWe called him, we had a talk, and then he did a freaking interview talking about \u2018this is the biggest cut we\u2019re ever gonna do\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the first thing that happened when I land, a f\u2014king meeting with the f\u2014king\u2026 not even with the UFC doctor, a doctor from the New York Commission,” Holloway continued. “And then they tell me (that) every single f\u2014king day, they\u2019re gonna check up on us. And I was like, \u2018Holy shit, what the hell?\u2019 And I was fine. I was a little bit bigger than I usually was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like\u00a0four pounds away from making the weight,” Holloway added. “I\u2019m going like, \u2018It\u2019s tough, but I\u2019m gonna get there. I know I\u2019m 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, \u2018You don\u2019t look good. You can\u2019t do it.\u2019 That\u2019s all that happened. And they walked out. I wasn\u2019t fighting. I was like,\u2019 What do you mean?\u2019 He was like, \u2018You look skinny.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Coming down, losing weight, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not gonna look like how I first met you on f\u2014king Monday. What is going on?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Holloway was of course gutted to be pulled from his fight with Nurmagomedov, and is still feeling that way years later, when Nurmagomedov is retired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chance of fighting someone of [Nurmagomedov’s] stature, and I pride myself for fighting anybody, anywhere, any time, any weight class,” Holloway said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you think Max Holloway would have done against Khabib Nurmagomedov?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is still disappointed he didn’t have the chance to battle unbeaten lightweight star Khabib Nurmagomedov. Holloway was briefly slated to fight Nurmagomedov for the vacant lightweight title in 2014, but was pulled from the matchup at the eleventh hour by the New York State Athletic Commission. Speaking on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":294838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10114,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMax Holloway laments missed Khabib Nurmagomedov fight: "I just wanted to fight him" | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is still disappointed he didn't have the chance to battle the unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/max-holloway-laments-missed-khabib-nurmagomedov-fight-i-just-wanted-to-fight-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Max 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