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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway created history after their Metaverse fight.
Nurmagomedov was once scheduled to fight Holloway in a UFC lightweight title bout at UFC 223 in April 2018. ‘Blessed’ had agreed to face Nurmagomedov on short notice. However, Holloway was deemed medically unfit to compete, courtesy of a bad weight cut.
While the Nurmagomedov-Holloway dream matchup didn’t materialize inside the octagon, they’ve now clashed in the Metaverse. A Metaverse is a virtual/augmented reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment as well as with other users in that environment.
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As we’d previously reported, former UFC lightweight champion Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov and former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway were scheduled to fight one another in the Mozilla Hubs Metaverse. This virtual reality matchup was set to be spearheaded by Legionfarm NFT, a gaming Metaverse that boasts Nurmagomedov as a notable member.
The virtual fight between the two MMA stalwarts ended up being a boxing bout. It witnessed Nurmagomedov and Holloway compete as characters from the Rocky movie franchise. Nurmagomedov played as Apollo Creed, while ‘Blessed’ played as Ivan Drago.
Additionally, Nurmagomedov’s longtime AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) teammate and friend, MMA legend Daniel Cormier, provided commentary on the fight. Holloway scored just one knockdown in the bout but was knocked down multiple times before finally being beaten via KO by Nurmagomedov.
You can watch the Metaverse fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway in the video below:
Chael Sonnen on Max Holloway being willing to serve as the backup fighter for the featherweight title fight at UFC 273
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski was expected to defend his title in a trilogy fight against Max Holloway this year. However, Holloway pulled out of their fight due to injury issues. He was then replaced by Chan Sung Jung aka ‘The Korean Zombie’, who’s set to fight Volkanovski for the belt at UFC 273 on April 9th.
That said, ESPN MMA recently confirmed that Holloway has been cleared to resume training. Holloway has offered to serve as the backup fighter for the Volkanovski-Jung featherweight title matchup, in case either athlete is unable to compete on fight night.
MMA veteran Chael Sonnen addressed this in an edition of Beyond the Fight. Suggesting that Holloway should be competing for the title at UFC 273, Sonnen said:
"He's going to travel to the event, there's something involved with that, he's going to be in shape which means he went through a training camp and he's going to be striking distance to make weight in case he gets called, that's a huge deal. Why is he not fighting?"
Watch Chael Sonnen discuss the Max Holloway situation in the video below:
