Max Holloway’s Team Responds To UFC 226 Stroke Reports

The team of UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has responded to the reports that he suffered a stroke leading up to his latest fight.

It’s been a rough month for Holloway as if you recall, Holloway was slated to make his next title defense against top contender Brian Ortega in the co-main event of the UFC 226 pay-per-view event earlier this month at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Holloway was forced to pull out of the fight after he had been experiencing concussion-like symptoms and was taken to a hospital earlier that week then appeared to be better then took a turn for the worst and the fight was nixed.

Holloway’s manager Brian Butler is ruling out a stroke as there have been reports that is what he was dealing with during UFC 226 fight week but that has been denied with the following statement issued to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto:

“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.”

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

This has led to speculation about who was spreading these reports about a stroke? Who would dare to do something like this? Well, fight fans are pointing the finger at former UFC heavyweight star now turned podcaster and comedian Brendan Schaub who talked about it on a recent edition of his podcast, Below the Belt (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow).

”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.”

https://youtu.be/agNLwhOpMUk

It will be interesting to see when this fight is made as one would think Holloway would wait 90 days before fighting again but Holloway is a born fighter and will likely want to fight as soon as possible.