Report - Injury Forces Max Holloway From July 17th. UFC Headliner With Yair Rodriguez

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

Former undisputed UFC featherweight champion, Max 'Blessed' Holloway has been forced out of a UFC Fight Night headlining tilt on July 17th. against the #3 ranked contender, Yair 'El Pantera' Rodriguez -- due to an undisclosed injury. The bout between Holloway and Rodriguez is set to be rescheduled for another date and event.

Holloway last featured at UFC Fight Island 7 in January in Abu Dhabi, UAE -- taking home a dominant, one-sided unanimous decision win over New England Cartel standout, Calvin Kattar -- breaking his own record for significant strikes landed in a fight. 

For Chihuahua native, Rodriguez, he was booked for his first Octagon appearance since October of 2019, where he took home a unanimous decision win over striking veteran, Jeremy Stephens in a UFC Fight Night Boston co-main event. Rodriguez is set to be removed from the July 17th. event altogether as a result of Holloway's injury, in favour of a reworked fight down the line. News of Holloway's injury was first reported by ESPNDeportes reporter, Carlos Contreras Legaspi. 

A former undisputed 145lbs champion, Hawaii favourite, Holloway snapped a two-fight skid with his January victory over Kattar, having rematched current-champion, Alexander Volkanovski for the title on 'Fight Island' last July at UFC 251 -- finding himself on the wrong side of a razor-thin split decision loss.

During his reign as featherweight kingpin, Holloway successfully lodged three defences, besting Jose Aldo via strikes in a short-notice re-run, before stopping incoming challenger, Brian Ortega with a fourth round doctor's stoppage, as well as taking a unanimous decision win over former lightweight best, Frankie Edgar.

Unbeaten in his last three Octagon appearances, Mexico-born striking sensation, Rodriguez had taken a buzzer-beating, Knockout of the Year contender against one-time title chaser, Chan Sung Jung back at UFC Fight Night Denver back in November of 2018. Headlining a UFC Fight Night Mexico City card the following September, Rodriguez landed an inadvertent eye poke on the aforenoted, Stephens just 15-seconds into the opening round, resulting in an official 'No Contest'. 

As of publication, a new headliner for the UFC Fight Night event set for July 17th. as yet to be disclosed, as well as a date or location for a reworked pairing of Holloway and Rodriguez.