UFC 223: Brian Ortega claims he was offered main event fight after Tony Ferguson injury

The top featherweight contender believes he was going to be in Brooklyn on Friday before a call was answered

It appears UFC president Dana White had a few options to choose from to fill in the UFC 223 main event in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday night. UFC announced late Sunday night that interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson would be unable to compete against Khabib Nurmagomedov -- the fourth time the matchup between the two fighters has beeb canceled for one reason or another.

Eventually, UFC ended up putting together arguably just as good a fight in the main event when featherweight champion Max Holloway agreed to step in on six days' notice to take on Nurmagomedov. However, it puts the top contender for the featherweight title in a bit of a predicament. 

Brian Ortega, who is coming off the biggest victory of his career at UFC 222 when he became the first fighter to ever knockout Frankie Edgar, claims he was also offered a shot at the top ranked lightweight, but plans changed when Holloway answered the phone.

For the record, Dana called me yesterday to see if I would step in against Khabib since Max hadn’t responded yet. I said yes. Eventually, Max replied and Dana gave him the fight. If all goes according to plan, I’ll get my turn - at both of them.

— Brian Ortega (@BrianTcity) April 2, 2018

Ortega was hoping to take on Holloway this summer for the 145-pound title, and that might still be the case depending on how things go on Saturday night. But for now, four of the promotion's eight men's champions are currently tied up in fights against one another. I'm sure another interim title fight will make fans enjoy the action even more.