Holloway Cleared, Eyes UFC 273 Backup

Max Holloway has been given a clean bill of health.

The former UFC featherweight champion was recently sidelined with an undisclosed injury, which cost him another shot at reigning 145-pound titleholder Alex Volkanovski. As it turns out, “Blessed” will in fact be ready to compete at the upcoming UFC 273 pay-per-view (PPV) event on April 9 in Jacksonville, Fla., but the open slot has already been filled by featherweight “Zombie” Chan Sung Jung.

As a result, Holloway will attempt to weigh in and serve as backup for the championship main event, according to ESPN. The promotion has yet to rubber stamp the Hawaiian’s request, likely due to the reliability of both Volkanovski and Jung, but in the age of COVID it probably doesn’t hurt to have all the bases covered. Then again, Holloway makes a decent “show” purse. The promotion might not want to incur any additional expenses and could easily slide the Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan title fight into the UFC 273 headliner.

For the current UFC 273 fight card and PPV lineup click here.