UFC Featherweight Max Holloway Might Never Be Able to Fight Again if Theories Surrounding His Recent Withdrawal Are True…
Max Holloway has quickly become one of the most exciting and interesting fighters on the UFC roster. In an era where it has become so much more difficult for athletes to display any individuality – I’m looking at you Reebok deal – the UFC featherweight champion is one of the most colorful and marketable champions the company has.
It was a massive blow when he was forced – literally by his teammates – to withdraw from the co-main event of UFC 226 when he was due to take on Brian Ortega and defend his title for the second time, after back to back wins over Jose Aldo.
Alas it was not to be. Holloway was displaying concussion-like symptoms, immediately picked up by Michael Bisping live on television. His fight against Ortega was pulled and ‘Blessed’ was hospitalized. Now fears are growing that he could have suffered a mini-stroke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=19&v=agNLwhOpMUk
Mini Stroke
Speculation is rife as to what may have caused Holloway’s symptoms. Former UFC fighter, footballer and current comedian Brendan Schaub believes that Holloway was acting like he had suffered a mini-stroke. On his podcast ‘Below the Belt’ he revealed:
“I heard when he was cutting weight, I heard it got really scary,” Schaub said. “I heard it got so scary where a doctor was like, you know, this could be a sign of a small f***ing, not a heart attack, but stroke.”
If this is true then Holloway’s entire career could very potentially be at risk, which is no joking matter. Let’s hope it’s not. Best of luck to the champ.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk5kucwBkO0/?hl=en&taken-by=blessedmma
Very Possible
While people are going to sneer that this is Brendan Schaub and what does he know, the fact is that his claim is not that outlandish. It’s believed that Holloway was taking on way too much water, which may have caused him to be poisoned. This, in turn, could trigger a mini-stroke. UFC President Dana White revealed to Kevin Iole that this was the case:
“We heard that he was water loading, which is super dangerous,” White said. “When you water load, and I didn’t know this for those of you out there that might not know, either, there is such thing as water poisoning. And you can actually drink too much water and die from it.”
Unconfirmed
Once again we have to emphasize that this is just speculation. However, it’s information being released by the very top of the MMA world – literally in White’s case. Fingers crossed that Holloway will be able to recover in time and progress with his career because he’s a top champion and athlete.
The potential seriousness of the situation can be seen by the fact that the UFC has stayed very quiet since UFC 226 about his circumstances. Yes, they tried to match Brian Ortega up with Jeremy Stephens and then ‘Lil Heathen’ against Frankie Edgar for an interim belt, but they’ve not said anything since. Brian Ortega wants to push for the title if Holloway is out.
We’ll see.
