Hoping to shed some light on all this is New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) executive director Kim Sumbler.
Sumbler spoke to MMA Fighting, and made it known first and foremost, that Max Holloway was pulled by NYSAC medical staff.
“I was called into the room about half an hour before the weigh-ins were over, our last weigh-in time was 11:00, so it was about 10:30 in the morning,” Sumbler told MMA Fighting. “We were called into a room with my chief medical officer and Jeff Davidson of the UFC medical team and discussed Max’s condition. It was decided at that time jointly that we weren’t going to allow Max to weigh in.”
Sumbler didn’t change the narrative on Anthony Pettis, but added a little extra insight to the process. After speaking to someone on Pettis’ fight team, who told her his fighter wouldn’t lose 0.2 lbs to get down to the title fight limit, she spoke to the former lightweight champion directly.
“I asked Anthony directly, I had him look me in the face because he was writing some paper work and I said, ‘Anthony, I want you to turn and look at me,’ and he did. And it was in front of the UFC and his team, and I said, ‘Anthony, do you want to lose the extra 0.2 (pounds) and he said, ‘no, I don’t,’ and I said, ‘okay,’ and he took this great big jug of water and he drank it and I said, ‘guys, go pick up the scale’. And that was the end of it. I said I would approve a three-round fight, ‘I don’t think you’re ready for a five, I’ll approve you for a three-round fight against Khabib’. He went to go and do negotiations (with the UFC) and that was the last I heard until they presented me to Al.”
And as for Paul Felder and his ranking? Apparently that bit of controversy never even happened, at least to hear the NYSAC tell it.
“Paul Felder never came into play,” Sumbler clarified. “He was never presented to me as an opponent, ever. His name was talked around the commission room with other fighters, other managers and other people, but the UFC never presented me Paul Felder as a potential opponent for Khabib.”