A featherweight title bout between Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar is set to headline UFC 222, the promotion announced Monday.
The pair was originally set to meet at UFC 218 in December, however Edgar withdrew from the bout with an injury. Holloway instead fought Jose Aldo at the event in a rematch six months after the Hawaiian took the 145-pound belt from the Brazilian legend at UFC 212. Holloway won the rematch as well and Edgar is still considered the top contender in the division so the UFC decided to rebook the Holloway-Edgar matchup.
Holloway (19-3) is riding a 12-fighting winning streak and has not tasted defeat since dropping a unanimous decision to Conor McGregor back in 2013. The 26-year-old is currently ranked as the No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.
Edgar (22–5–1) beat Jeremy Stephens and Yair Rodriguez in back-to-back fights to earn what will be his third shot at the featherweight strap. The 35-year-old future Hall of Famer was defeated by Aldo on two separate occasions via unanimous decision, once in 2013 and again in 2016. The former lightweight titleholder has the opportunity to become the fifth fighter in UFC history to win championship belts in two different weight classes. Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, McGregor and Georges St-Pierre are the only fighters that have accomplished the feat thus far.
UFC 222 takes place March 3 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Other bouts expected to take place at the event include: Stefan Struve vs. Andrei Arlovski, C.B. Dollaway vs. Hector Lombard, Cat Zingano vs. Ketlen Vieira, Sean O’Malley vs. Andre Soukhamthath, and Mackenzie Dern vs. Ashley Yoder.
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