Team Holloway isn’t happy with the varied medical reports floating around on the featherweight’s health.
Something is wrong with Max Holloway. That’s clear following his last minute removal from last month’s UFC 226 title fight with Brian “T-City” Ortega. But what exactly? Was it a concussion? The result of water loading? A stroke?
We still have no idea, but at the very least Holloway’s manager Brian Butler is ruling out a stroke. This according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto:
There have been rumors Max Holloway suffered some form of a stroke prior to UFC 226. His manager Brian Butler (@BrianButler_Au) told me there’s no truth to that today via text. He also said Max is feeling better and should be in a position to talk more soon.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 22, 2018
Here’s Brian’s full comment: “All I can say right now is we are not sure who’s trying to manipulate the media with stroke rumors. I can’t imagine what kind of doctors would discharge Max from the ER if they actually thought he had a stroke.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 22, 2018
So who are these ‘media manipulators’ spreading rumors of Max having a stroke? Who knows for sure where that story took root, but we do know one person who spread it about: Brendan Schaub, who discussed it on his Below The Belt program on Showtime.
”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**kin’ … not a heart attack, but stroke.”
Now before you go and bag Schaub too hard, make sure he doesn’t have any dirt on you and keep in mind that Dana White also felt perfectly comfortable pointing the finger at water loading. So there’s more than one goof out there jumping to conclusions about what might be Holloway’s problem.
For the more responsible amongst us, the best bet is to wait and see what the official word is from Holloway’s camp.