UFC’s Josiah Harrell reacts as pre-fight test reveals brain disease

The American, 24, was pulled from his planned fight with Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 290

Josiah Harrell has urged fans not to ‘feel sorry’ for him after a pre-fight scan revealed that the UFC athlete has a rare brain disease.

The American, 24, was due to fight Jack Della Maddalena in a welterweight bout at UFC 290 on Saturday (8 July), serving as a replacement for the injured Sean Brady. However, Harrell was also forced to pull out of his planned clash with Della Maddalena, when a pre-fight scan revealed that Harrell has moyamoya – a rare brain disease.

“Small [bump] in the road,” the unbeaten fighter wrote on Instagram. “We did everything on our side. Got all of our medicals redone this week. Check out on all of them except something came up in the MRI scan that they wanted me to make sure was nothing serious.

“Turns out I have a brain disease that is treatable and [I’ll be] back up and running asap. Sorry to everyone I know, [who either] wanted to see me get my head beat in or [wanted] to see me with my hand raised. I have very little information on what’s going on but I do know I’ll be a lab Rat for a while, which is fitting.

“A wild week, a wild life. I will get better, I’ll keep y’all updated on the process, thank you for all your prayers and love. We will heal up quickly.”

In a later post, Harrell added: “Don’t feel sorry for me. Mom doesn’t work but people I love do, so until they don’t have to ima be at this for a long time. We will get more news out soon, have to do some testing.

“You should be excited. [I don’t know] how much it has limited my ability to compete, but I’m guessing it would have to do with the oxygen levels to my brain, so ya boy might have even better cardio. I’m a hopeful person, so what fight card should [we] aim for? (4-12 months).”

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