Nutritionist: NYSAC looked at Max Holloway's numbers at UFC 223 and said no

MMA nutrition consultant George Lockhart said UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway had energy to spare and was progressing well during his weight cut.

But the New York State Athletic Commission looked at numbers Holloway was up against and quickly decided it was unsafe to cut more weight.

“That was all she wrote,” Lockhart today told MMAjunkie.

Lockhart declined to say where Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) started the weight cut, which he told multiple MMA outlets was tied for the biggest drop in his career as a nutrition consultant.

Lockhart also declined to reveal what Holloway’s weight was when the NYSAC declared him medically unfit to weigh in for a bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 223.

MMAjunkie reporter Mike Bohn said the featherweight champ was 159 pounds when he was ruled out of the fight.

Holloway is now rehydrating and “feeling like himself again” after a crash weight cut Lockhart told multiple media outlets was tied for the biggest weight cut of his career. In a statement, the featherweight champ apologized to Nurmagomedov and said he wanted to continue cutting weight.

“I would have loved to have seen the fight, but not at the cost of fighter’s health,” Lockhart said.

Despite the last-minute scratch, Lockhart doesn’t place any blame with the New York commission. He admits if he was in their place, he might have pulled the plug.

But Lockhart also notes that Holloway is unlike any other fighter he’s ever worked with, and if there was anyone who could’ve pulled off such a huge weight cut, it would be “Blessed.”

“When they came in, with the numbers they looked at, if I would have seen those, I would have thought the exact same thing,” he said. “The reason I took this is because it’s Max Holloway, because Max has got the mindset and cuts like nobody I’ve ever seen before.

“He wanted this title fight, and our company could have been on the safe side and just said, ‘No, we’re not going to do it, because we’re going to get a lot of slack for it.’ But this guy is a dream shot, and looking at what he’s done before, this is a possibility. We’ll take that risk if Max does what he’s supposed to.”

Lockhart said Holloway hit the treadmill almost the moment he arrived in New York and was on track to make weight.

“The No. 1 thing for us is the safety of the fighters,” he said. “I don’t give two craps about a 100 percent success rate. We’ve had people miss before where it wasn’t safe, so this is one of those instances, and (the commission) did their job. I’m not mad at them.”

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