Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez Expected to Fight on July 17, UFC's Dana White Says

UFC President Dana White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto that Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez will battle in a featherweight main event on July 17.

The two camps have not signed contracts for the fight, but UFC is close to finalizing the bout, per ESPN.

Holloway, a former UFC featherweight champion, successfully defended his belt three times before losing it to Alexander Volkanovski in Dec. 2019. He lost a rematch for the belt in July 2020.

The 29-year-old is coming off a unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar in January. He is 22-6 as a professional and currently ranks No. 1 on the UFC featherweight contender list and No. 9 on the pound-for-pound rankings.

Rodriguez is 13-2 with one no-contest. He hasn't fought since defeating Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision in Oct. 2019.

Rodriguez was supposed to fight Zabit Magomedsharipov on Aug. 29, 2020 but had to drop out due to an ankle injury.

He was also suspended by the USADA for six months from Sept. 2020 to March 2021 "for violating the UFC’s anti-doping policy by failing to file his location for testing three times in the past 12 months," per Damon Martin of MMA Fighting.

The 28-year-old ranks No. 3 on the featherweight contender list.