Earlier this evening terrible news rocked the mixed martial arts world as ESPN announced that current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of his scheduled title fight with undefeated contender Brian Ortega.
“Blessed” was hospitalized due to concussion-like symptoms and has thus been removed from his scheduled UFC 226 co-main event fight with “T-City”.
No word yet from the UFC on whether or not Brian Ortega will receive a short-notice replacement.
Holloway’s management team released the following statement to MMAJunkie regarding the decision to pull their fighter from next weekend’s highly anticipated featherweight title fight.
“Max’s team and UFC staff noticed Max was not normal since late last week. This became obvious to many watching his interviews and public appearances the past few days.
“He was showing concussion-like symptoms before he even started his weight cut and was rushed to the ER on Monday where they admitted him overnight. Initial scans seemed okay, and he was released Tuesday afternoon, but symptoms still continued.
“Max fought with his team to continue with the fight. He showed some improvement over the next day but was still showing obvious symptoms. After open workouts, he crashed and was very hard to wake up. When he did, he had flashing vision and slurred speech.
“He is now back in the ER for further tests.”
Following the shocking news of Max Holloway’s removal from UFC 226, many fighters reached out to wish the champ a speedy recovery.
@BlessedMMA god bless you bro feel better soon!
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) July 5, 2018
Terrible news! Heal up quick champ @BlessedMMA! #UFC226 https://t.co/yXJ1rm20xB
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) July 5, 2018
All the best to @BlessedMMA and wish him a speedy and full recovery. Big fights come go but we only have one body. Health and safety is the most important thing.
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) July 5, 2018
As someone who knows the dangers of this sport very well, my thoughts and well wishes are with @BlessedMMA and his family. Hopefully this passes quickly and we get to see him doing what he does best very soon.
— michael (@bisping) July 5, 2018
This shit is real. The guy has a family. Symptoms like that are nothing take lightly. Rest up @BlessedMMA everyone already knows your a bad ass you don’t need to prove that. #UFC226 https://t.co/JBU6EicGih
— Damien Brown (@beatdown155) July 5, 2018
My guess would be @FrankieEdgar to replace @BlessedMMA
— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) July 5, 2018