With Daniel Cormier pulling out of his scheduled rematch with Anthony Johnson after suffering a torn adductor in his groin, UFC 206 now has a new main event.
The UFC announced Saturday night the co-main event between top featherweight contenders Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis would be promoted to the main event.
The organization also announced that champion Conor McGregor would be relinquishing his title and that Holloway-Pettis would be for an interim belt.
Holloway (16-3) is currently riding a nine-fight winning streak, which had been the longest streak in UFC history without that fighter earning a title shot. It’s also the third longest active streak in the UFC — Jon Jones has won 13 straight while Demetrious Johnson is on a 10-fight run. The 24-year-old Hawaiian holds notable wins over ranked contenders Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens and Cub Swanson among others and hasn’t lost since a 2013 decision to McGregor.
Former lightweight champion Pettis (19–5) made a successful 145-pound debut against Charles Oliveira at a UFC Fight Night event in Vancouver in August, snapping a three-fight losing streak. It was his first victory since submitting Gilbert Melendez nearly two years ago.
The winner of the UFC 206 headliner is expected to fight Jose Aldo in 2017 in a title unification bout. Aldo, who won a different interim title by beating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July, was promoted to “undisputed” 145-pound champ Saturday night after the UFC’s decision to take McGregor’s belt.
The UFC also announced Tim Kennedy and Kelvin Gastelum would meet in a middleweight contest pending the approval of the Ontario Athletic Commission.
Kelvin Gastelum had been slated to fight Donald Cerrone at UFC 205 earlier this month at Madison Square Garden but that fight never materialized because Gastelum failed to make weight. In fact, he never even made an attempt to step on the scale and was subsequently suspended six months by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC).
These changes were first reported by MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani.
Kennedy was also pulled from a scheduled appearance at UFC 205 after his opponent, Rashad Evans, was not given clearance to compete by the NYSAC. Kennedy-Evans was initially moved to UFC 206, but Ontario’s athletic commission followed in New York’s footsteps and didn’t give Evans medical clearance to fight.
Here is a look at the UFC 206 fight card to date:
MAIN CARD
— Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis
— Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown
— Tim Kennedy vs. Kelvin Gastelum
— Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi
— Jordan Mein vs. Emil Meek
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Nikita Krylov vs. Misha Cirkunov
— Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Drew Dober
— Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira
— John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata
— Jason Saggo vs. Rustam Khabilov
— Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez
— Zach Makovsky vs. Dustin Ortiz
