The lightweight title still will be up for grabs in the UFC 223 main event – but only for one fighter.

Khabib Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) will stay in the headliner in New York and will fight Al Iaquinta (13-3-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC), who will move up from the main-card opening fight against Paul Felder (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) for the fight. A person close to the fight revealed the news to MMAjunkie today, and a UFC official subsequently confirmed the news to MMAjunkie.

But because Iaquinta weighed in for his fight with Felder at 155.2 pounds, he will be ineligible to win the title since that number is two-tenths of a pound over the title-fight limit. The scrambling that went on after original headliner Max Holloway (19-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was pulled during the two-hour weigh-in window meant Iaquinta already had made weight for his fight with Felder, and hence had no reason to be given extra time to cut the small extra amount of weight since he wasn’t booked for a title fight till now.

Holloway was deemed medically unfit to get on the scale this morning in Brooklyn by the New York State Athletic Commission and UFC medical staff. The UFC first looked to Anthony Pettis (20-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC), who was without an opponent after Michael Chiesa (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) was pulled in the wake of the Conor McGregor bus incident late Thursday. Then the UFC turned to Felder when the Pettis fight wasn’t coming together. But Felder was not approved for a title fight by the NYSAC because he isn’t ranked high enough.

So Iaquinta now will step in to keep Nurmagomedov on the card, even though he won’t be able to win the lightweight title if he wins. As now is well-documented, current lightweight champion McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) will be stripped of the title once a new champion is crowned – but an Iaquinta win would mean there actually isn’t a new champion, and that’s a scenario that hasn’t been discussed.

Stripping McGregor was a plan put in place long before the Irishman went on his alleged tirade in Brooklyn – which resulted in three criminal assault charges and one of criminal mischief.

Since Felder is without an opponent with Iaquinta’s move up, and Pettis is without an opponent thanks to Chiesa’s removal, a Pettis-Felder fight was in the works. But that apparently will not happen, which leaves UFC 223 with nine fights. It started the week with 13 – and had 13 heading into Thursday before McGregor’s alleged incident directly or indirectly led to the scrapping of three fights.

A lightweight fight between Chris Gruetzemacher (13-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) and Joe Lauzon (27-14 MMA, 14-11 UFC) moved up from the FS1 prelims to the main card. The lone remaining bout on UFC Fight Pass, a light heavyweight contest between Devin Clark (8-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and Mike Rodriguez (9-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), now opens the event on FS1 – leaving no bouts on the streaming network.

UFC 223 will take place Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1.

The new UFC 223 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta – for lightweight title if Nurmagomedov wins
  • Champ Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – for women’s strawweight title
  • Calvin Kattar vs. Renato Moicano
  • Kyle Bochniak vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov
  • Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Joe Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Felice Herrig vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
  • Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Bec Rawlings
  • Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Evan Dunham
  • Devin Clark vs. Michael Rodriguez

For more on UFC 223, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.