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It was announced by Florida-based MMA promotion Xtreme Fighting Championships on Friday they had stripped their lightweight champion Nick Newell (9-0) of his title for refusing to fight Scott Holtzman (4-0) in the XFC 24 main event on June 14, a fight the organization had been promoting and selling tickets to for some time.
Newell, a congenital amputee who had fought and won four times inside the XFC cage, won their lightweight title this past December with a first round submission of Eric Reynolds at XFC 21 in Nashville. Holtzman also fought and won four times inside the XFC cage and earned his title shot with a unanimous decision win over Jason Hicks in February. However, now that Newell hast been stripped of the title, it is yet to be determined who Holtzman will fight in June.
Friday afternoon Newell posted on Facebook the following response to the statements made by XFC President John Prisco regarding his decision not to fight Holtzman:
EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! First of I AM NOT UNDER CONTRACT WITH THE XFC. XFC promoted a fight that didn’t exist yet.
The headlines are misleading and imply that I was stripped of my title because I refused to fight when in fact I just chose not to renew my contract with the XFC. I am not scared to fight anybody. I have been through too much in my life to be scared of any man. All you have to do is look at one of my fights to see my heart & my fearless style. This has nothing to do with me being scared. It is more so just an attempt to bully me into a contract.
XFC trash talking me and trying to slander my name upsets me more then anything but they are promoters. XFC is promoting, thats what they do. They have to try and make their guys look as good as possible and I’m not one of their guys so it is at my expense.
Even though Scott is bad mouthing me as well, I have no ill will towards him. I consider myself to be a professional and as a professional I choose to stay away from negative talk towards other fighters, but I understand that he is an unfortunate victim of circumstance.
Definitely not scared just have my eyes on bigger pastures.
Love you all,
Nicholas G. Newell
[…] Nick Newell announced his departure from the XFC and would not be defending his lightweight title against Scott Holtzman at XFC 24 next month, the […]