Max Holloway Unveils Fighting Future After Recent Health Scare

It’s been almost four weeks since Max Holloway was forced out of his awaited featherweight title fight with Brian Ortega at July 7’s UFC 226 due to concerning concussion-like symptoms.

There has been precious little concrete information about “Blessed’s” health in the time since, with the Hawaiian champion flying to Las Vegas to undergo a battery of medical tests to figure out just what went wrong International Fight Week. But apparently, those tests haven’t yielded much in the way of confirmation, leaving the 26-year-old rising star with a large chunk of uncertainty surrounding his fighting future.

Holloway addressed the sticky situation on today’s edition of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” (via ESPN.com), declaring that while he’s seen many doctors and none of them can figure out just what went wrong, he will still return to MMA at some point:

“I’ve seen multiple doctors and experts but they haven’t been able to give any answers about what happened,” Holloway said. “But I’m okay. I’m going to fight again. That’s all we know.”

Rumors ranged from Holloway suffering a mild stroke to actually experiencing poisoning from water loading, but when UFC Tonight co-host Michael Bisping called Holloway out for being tired and lethargic during an interview on the show, most thought it was the effects of another draining weight cut for “Blessed” after he was pulled out of a short-notice main event with Khabib Nurmagomedov at April’s UFC 223 due to a botched – and drastic – weight cut.

It’s more than a bit concerning to hear Holloway state that he doesn’t know what happened to him or how it’s affecting his long-term health but will still fight again regardless. He seemed to contradict himself a bit by saying he was ‘glad to be healthy’ while confirming it was ‘crazy’ he still didn’t know what was wrong with him:

“All of the tests were great,” Holloway says. “When you hear those kind of things, but also scary. You want to know what’s wrong. It’s crazy we just don’t have the answers. I’m just glad I’m healthy and okay.”

Perhaps in a specific sense, the tests were ‘great’ in that they didn’t reveal any serious illness that required immediate attention, yet Holloway did still sound drained and less than himself during his interview with Helwani, a point of view many of the online listeners focused on during the spot.

Holloway insisted he never sustained a concussion in training, but after he was pulled out of an alarming three straight fights this year without competing once, it’s become obvious that his health is indeed on the line and that should come first before he steps back into the cage.

There’s no questioning Holloway’s toughness or desire; that simply has to be at the forefront for him, his team, and his employers.

So don’t expect that you’ve seen the last of Max Holloway, just hope that when he does come back, he’s fixed the issues that are significantly plaguing the career path of a fighter who was on top of the world less than eight months ago.