UFC FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION Max Holloway has been forced to pull out of UFC 226 after being rushed to hospital with concussion-like symptoms.
Holloway was set to defend his title in the co-main event on Saturday in Las Vegas, facing the undefeated Brian Ortega.
A statement from his management team (via ESPN journalist Ariel Helwani) reads, in full:
“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 ok and he was released Tuesday afternoon but symptoms still continued.
Breaking: Max Holloway is out of UFC 226. Here is a statement from his management team, exclusive to ESPN. More coming shortly. pic.twitter.com/PO4Zm0DeBC
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 5, 2018
“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.”
His opponent Ortega also tweeted, reacting to the news:
“It is what it is. We’ll run this shit later.”
It is what it is. We’ll run this shit later. pic.twitter.com/Ua1q4k4okR
— Brian Ortega (@BrianTcity) July 5, 2018
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