A loaded UFC 226 card has suffered a major setback. UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is out of his scheduled title defense against Brian Ortega.
According to a report by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Holloway was forced to withdraw due to “concussion like symptoms.”
Per a statement released to ESPN, Holloway was admitted to an ER earlier in the week, and had had symptoms throughout the past few days.
Here is the full statement to ESPN:
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 over night. 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.
Holloway was forced by the New York State Athletic Commision to withdraw from a short-notice fight at UFC 223 due to a dangerous weight-cut. He was also forced to withdraw from a title defense at UfFC 222 due to an injury.
According to Helwani, Ortega’s status at UFC 226 is “unclear.”
As for Brian Ortega’s status, he just found out the news, I’m told. It’s unclear at this time if he will remain on the card.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 5, 2018
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