UFC fighter Josiah Harrell had a pre-fight brain scan potentially save his life, but now he needs surgery – and it’s costly.
UFC fighter [autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag] needs nearly six figures for a potentially life-saving surgery.
Harrell, 24, has yet to compete in the promotion. His short notice debut at UFC 290 in July was scrapped days before the fight when his pre-fight medical tests revealed Moyamoya, a rare brain disease that impacts blood flow.
With the disease rare, and such few facilities offering the procedure, Harrell has spent the past four months planning for surgery. His surgery is currently scheduled for Tuesday at the Moyamoya Center at Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.), his manager Maurice Blanco, of First Round Management, told MMA Junkie on Monday.
Blanco added that Harrell is in relatively good spirits with a morning run scheduled for just hours before his procedure. The expected recovery time before resumption of training is three to four months, Blanco said, though an exact timeline will be more mappable post-surgery.
Harrell recently set up a GoFundMe account to help absorb the hefty costs. The fundraiser has a $80,000 goal and states the UFC’s insurance does not cover the procedure.
As rare as Moyamoya disease is, there is a near-identical instance of another fighter who was removed from his UFC debut upon its discovery. In 2019, Vince Murdock was flagged for Moyamoya. He underwent brain surgery and returned to competition in 2020.
Find out who joined the UFC in July and learn more about them here.
The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.
Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, “Dana White’s Contender Series” signees, or the increasingly rare straight-up additions. Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.
“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.
A lot of things had to fall in line perfectly for Josiah Harrell to avoid a potentially life-threatening medical event.
Some people might feel bad for [autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag]. But 10 days removed from a life-changing diagnosis, Harrell considers himself nothing but lucky.
“If I took another path in however many lives I have, if I took a different path, they were finding this when I’m 40 and it’s already too late and I’ve seized up,” Harrell recently told MMA Junkie. “It’s very, very weird.”
It’s been a rollercoaster week-and-a-half for Harrell, but the craziness even stretches back further than that. That’s why circumstances some may perceive as terrible luck, Harrell views as hitting the lottery.
“If LFA doesn’t call me and I don’t go through the cage, I don’t get most of the eyes I had, because I know that went viral,” Harrell said. “Maybe the UFC had seen me before, but that moment going viral through the cage, that is probably where it all started where they go, ‘Well, it’s about his time.’ Even though I’m 6-0 or 7-0 or whatever with seven finishes, that puts it on. They started talking. For me to have to go through the cage perfectly because that cage was locked. They check it. It just happened to be a fluke, me going through the cage. If that doesn’t happen, which who knows, that’s one in a million again? Then, going onto this, Brady has to pull out because of injury.”
“… It’s insane to look back on life and go, ‘How else would they have found this?’ Let’s say I took a football career. OK, maybe I get an MRI, but do I need one? Let’s say I go back to school and stay and study. They’re not finding that sucker until I go to the hospital.”
Harrell, 24, had never had an MRI prior to his onboarding process with the UFC. He accepted the UFC 290 matchup on six days’ notice and went through a whirlwind of media responsibilities and onboarding processes. Required to do a second brain scan unexpectedly, Harrell started to realize something might be up.
“They told me I might need to get a new MRI or something, (because) something came up blurry,” Harrell said. “In my head, I’m like, ‘Hell no.’ I was in the MRI and they’re scanning me, and I didn’t even fart. I didn’t move an inch. I’m like, ‘There’s no way this scan was blurry.’ The first thing that came into my mind was that I have something wrong with my head. I went worst case scenario immediately, ‘I probably have cancer.'”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cucqrv9OT3n/
Cancer was not present, but the scans showed moyamoya, a tightening of the vessels on one side of his brain. Had he continued through intense training in pursuit of MMA fighting notoriety without treatment, the end result could’ve been fatal.
“I don’t have health insurance,” Harrell said. “There would’ve been no reason for me to go to the hospital. This is one of the only paths I could’ve taken where they find this this early. If I took another path in however many lives I have, if I took a different path, they were finding this when I’m 40 and it’s already too late and I’ve seized up. It’s very, very weird.”
When news of Harrell’s medical diagnosis went public, thousands of messages of well wishes flooded in. Fans, fighters, and media members tried to empathize and sympathize with Harrell. But pity is not his way. He’s leaned on positivity and humor instead.
“Everything is a joke to me,” Harrell said. “That’s how I deal with trauma, anyway. I was just cracking jokes like, ‘I knew there was something wrong with me.’ I was just doing whatever I can, like, ‘Is that it?’ As soon as I was done making the jokes, I was like, ‘It’s treatable. Cool.’ In my head, the little kid in me was like, ‘No, you want this now. You just spent all this time and cut weight. You want this now.’ Then I was thinking about it like, ‘OK, you’ve just got to be patient. Just be patient. The doctors are going to figure this out.”
[lawrence-related id=2661008,2660942]
Despite moyamoya’s rareness, Harrell isn’t the first fighter in UFC history to receive the diagnosis. In 2019, Vince Murdock had a near-identical issue. After surgery, Murdock returned to fighting. Harrell plans to connect with Murdock in the coming weeks as he awaits word from Stanford Medical as to when a surgery of his own can take place.
As level-headed as Harrell is in the face of major adversity, there is a side of this experience that turns down the dials of humor and positivity. The financial burden of such a procedure will likely be hefty, Harrell admitted.
“I hate asking for help, so I won’t do that,” Harrell said. “I don’t know. We’ll have to figure that out. If anything is going to cause me stress, it’s going to be that. We’ll figure it out. I always have, so there’s no need to think I’m not going to now. If the UFC helps out, God bless them. If I have to figure this out, then I will. We haven’t had anything together as far as a GoFundMe. … I probably should get some sort of fundraiser together. Otherwise, I’m going to be sh*tting bricks for a while.”
As of right now, Harrell is still on the UFC roster. USADA showed up to test his urine Friday, which Harrell found to be a good sign. Whether the UFC releases him or keeps him around, Harrell vows to make the walk to the cage eventually, as he looks at at least a 14-month delay for surgery and recovery.
His dreams and aspirations haven’t changed. Greatness is not usually achieved without adversity, and Harrell is fired up to make his story the most incredible and inspirational one possible.
“I may have to starting getting some sort of journal together and start writing things down,” Harrell said. “We’ve got to make a story out of this – especially when I’m at the top with the UFC belt around my waist, 155, maybe 170, or who knows, maybe they’ll bring in the cruiserweight class, 165, and I’ll have three belts around me.”
UFC fighter Josiah Harrell was pulled the day prior to his promotional debut when a previously undetected disease was found.
[autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag] is remaining positive in the aftermath of a difficult medical discovery.
Friday, one day prior to his scheduled promotional debut at UFC 290, Harrell (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was removed from his bout vs. Jack Della Maddalena when pre-fight medical testing showed he has a rare, previously undetected brain disease.
Harrell, 24, was diagnosed with moymoya, a disease that can cause blood clots in the back of the brain. His manager, Maurice Blanco of First Round Management, told MMA Junkie the pre-fight MRI was a “blessing in disguise” and might have saved his client’s life. Harrell signed with the UFC less than one week prior to his removal from the card. The MRI in his pre-fight medical evaluation was the first he ever had.
Harrell addressed his withdrawal for the first time Saturday in an Instagram post shared during Saturday’s card. Harrell gave his perspective on what happened and voiced optimism in an eventual return.
“We will be back. Small [bump] in the road. We did everything on our side Got all of our medicals redone this week
“1. Physical 2. Blood 3. MRI 4. Eyes
“Check out on all of them except something came up in the MRI scan that they wanted me to make sure in was nothing serious turns out I have a brain disease that is treatable and will back up and running asap.
Sorry to everyone I know you ether wanted to see me get my head beat in or wanting 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
“Even though we had a 6 day notice, even though we had media obligations, paperwork, medical shit we still did everything on our side. Made weight and it was still after making weight were I was woken up and rushed to get a more medical shit figured out once we figure that out we didn’t get the news till about 2/3pm. No complaints tell me what I have to do and it will get done.
“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.
“Love you.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cucqrv9OT3n/
Harrell is expected to undergo brain surgery, though the timetable for the procedure is unclear.
As rare as moyamoya disease is, there is a near-identical instance of another fighter who was removed from his UFC debut upon its discovery. In 2019, Vince Murdock was flagged for moyamoya. He underwent brain surgery and returned to competition in 2020.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
Dana White said it’s “insane” that Josiah Harrell went more than three years as a professional fighter without having is brain scanned until before his UFC debut.
LAS VEGAS – If [autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag] had gone through with competing at UFC 290, the result could’ve been deadly. While that’s a risk for every fighter who steps in the cage given the brutal nature of mixed martial arts, it would’ve been especially so for Harrell.
That’s because Harrell has Moyamoya disease, a serious blood vessel disorder in the skull that can cause clotting at the base of the brain. The only reason Harrell was diagnosed with the rare condition is because of a pre-fight MRA test administered by the UFC, which caused his promotional debut against Jack Della Maddalena to be canceled.
Harrell, 24, has been a professional fighter since March 2020 and competed for three separate organizations – Ohio Combat League, Cage Fury FC and LFA. All of his fights for OCL took place in Ohio, while his CFFC and LFA appearances took place in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, respectively. None of those organizations or state athletic commissions did a head scan on Harrell, according to his manager, Maurice Blanco of First Round Management, as the pre-UFC 290 test was the first of his career.
Harrell accepted the fight with Della Maddalena on just six days’ notice after Sean Brady withdrew. Because of the pre-fight medical testing he received, taking the fight turned out to be, as Blanco put it, “a blessing in disguise.”
The fact that a fighter could go more than three years and seven fights without ever having his brain properly examined at the behest of a promotion or regulatory body is “insane” to UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag].
“If you took the 23 years that we’ve been doing this and you saw how many people we found with problems that probably shouldn’t have been fighting, even kids that wanted to get into ‘The Utimate Fighter,’ it’s everything, and it’s insane that this goes on out there,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters Friday night. “These other organizations are regulated. Yeah, it’s crazy.
“We spend millions and millions of dollars on health and safety. It is the most important thing that we focus on and that we care about as far as putting on fights.”
Unlike small and regional promotions who “can’t afford it,” according to White, the UFC, which for the past several years has touted record revenues, including last year, certainly has the money to thoroughly test fighters before competition. White said part of the motivation to open the $14 million UFC Performance Institute in 2017 was because the promotion deeply emphasizes the health and safety of its fighters.
Harrell, who is expected to undergo brain surgery soon, is a stark reminder of just how important that is in the dangerous world of MMA.
“At the end of the day, if you’re involved in a combat sport – and I consider football a combat sport, too – there’s a risk,” White said. “Every time you go out and compete, there’s a risk. What we try to do is minimize the risk as much as possible.”
A life-threatening brain disease may have gone undetected had Josiah Harrell not taken a short notice UFC 290 fight on days’ notice.
[autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag]’s UFC 290 withdrawal was a major disappointment, but his manager is calling it a “blessing in disguise.”
On the eve of Saturday’s card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the peak of International Fight Week, Harrell (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was removed from the event due to what the promotion initially vaguely called a “medical issue.”
Hours after Harrell’s scheduled promotional debut vs. [autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) was canceled, his manager Maurice Blanco of First Round Management, informed MMA Junkie his fighter was removed due to an abnormality on a routine pre-fight brain MRI.
Scans diagnosed Harrell has Moyamoya disease, a serious and rare abnormality that can cause clotting at the base of the brain. Blanco said the MRI “may have saved his life” and added that Harrell is expected to undergo brain surgery soon.
Per his manager Maurice Blanco: Josiah Harrell’s #UFC290 pre-fight brain MRI may have saved his life. He was diagnosed with moyamoya syndrome, a rare disease that results in blocked arteries at the base of the brain. He will undergo a brain procedure soon. https://t.co/vYfG17SJmL
According to Blanco, Harrell was previously unaware he had the disease. The brain MRI ahead of UFC 290 was Harrell’s first of his entire MMA career. Blanco thanked the UFC and the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) for the level of medical testing required – something he said the three other states Harrell fought in as a professional did not.
Harrell is not the first UFC prospect to learn of Moyamoya during pre-debut testing. In 2019, bantamweight Vince Murdock experienced a nearly identical scenario when he was pulled from his scheduled debut vs. Jordan Griffin.
Murdock eventually underwent brain surgery. After rehabilitation, he was cleared to compete and returned to fighting in 2020. He competed on both “Dana White’s Contender Series” and “The Ultimate Fighter 29.”
Harrell is still on the UFC roster, according to Blanco, despite the algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch detecting a removal from the online rankings.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
In the end, it wasn’t meant for Jack Della Maddalena to fight at UFC 290 after newcomer Josiah Harrell withdrew Friday.
In the end, it wasn’t meant for [autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag] to fight at UFC 290.
For the second time this week, Della Maddalena has lost an opponent and ultimately the opportunity to compete after [autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag] withdrew from their preliminary card bout Friday. The UFC announced on social media that Harrell, who accepted the fight on six days’ notice, was forced to withdraw because of a “medical issue.”
🚨 Injury News 🚨
Due to a medical issue with Josiah Harrell, his welterweight bout against Jack Della Maddalena has been canceled from #UFC290pic.twitter.com/vbupXR7vkj
Harrell’s manager, Maurice Blanco of First Round Management, told MMA Junkie’s Nolan King that Harrell has been diagnosed with moyamoya disease, a rare blood vessel disorder in the skull, which showed up during a pre-fight medical exam. Blanco called the revelation a “blessing in disguise.”
Earlier Friday morning, Harrell (7-0) made the 171-pound welterweight limit for the fight. He would’ve made his UFC debut Saturday.
Harrell’s withdrawal is an unfortunate turn of events for Australian standout Della Maddalena (14-2 MMA, 4-0 FC) after his original opponent, Sean Brady, pulled out this past weekend. Della Maddalena has been on a roll since he entered the UFC in September 2021 through Dana White’s Contender Series. All four of his promotional victories have been finishes, with his most recent a first-round rear-naked-choke submission of Randy Brown this past February at UFC 284.
With the cancellation, the updated UFC 290 lineup is below:
Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. interim champ Yair Rodriguez – featherweight title unification fight
Champ Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja – for flyweight title
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Robert Whittaker
Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner
Bo Nickal vs. Val Woodburn
Robbie Lawler vs. Niko Price
Denise Gomes vs. Yazmin Jauregui
Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
Edgar Chairez vs. Tatsuro Taira – 130-pound contract weight
Vitor Petrino vs. Marcin Prachnio
Terrence Mitchell vs. Cameron Saaiman
Jesus Aguilar vs. Shannon Ross
Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from June 26-July 2.
Jack Della Maddalena will welcome an undefeated prospect to the octagon at UFC 290.
[autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag] will welcome an undefeated prospect to the octagon at UFC 290.
Brady has been forced out of Saturday’s event and newcomer [autotag]Josiah Harrell[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Della Maddalena (14-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The matchup was first reported by UFC welterweight Matt Brown and reporter Cole Shelton.
UFC welterweights Joaquin Buckley, Kevin Holland and Chris Curtis all offered to step in against Maddalena, but the fights didn’t materialize. Maddalena is perfect in the octagon after four bouts and is coming off a first-round submission of Randy Brown at UFC 284 in February.
Unbeaten in his professional MMA career, Harrell competed less than a month ago and scored a third-round TKO of Mike Roberts at LFA 160. Harrell has finished all seven of his pro fights.
For those who make it to the highest stage, the journey starts long before they strap on UFC or Bellator gloves.
Every champion in MMA history started out somewhere.
For those who make it to the highest stage, the journey begins long before they strap on UFC, Bellator, or PFL gloves. Modern-era fighters progress through the regional ranks with hopes of accomplishing the highest accolades. Many will try, few will succeed.
This month, five fighters on the verge of achieving major promotion notoriety – one for the second time – return to the cage for what could be their stepping-stone fight. There are dozens of fighters close to making the jump in the coming weeks, but these five are particularly exemplary.
Considered by some the best pound-for-pound fighter in the Australia-New Zealand area, an Alexander Volkanovski training partner aims to prove his UFC worth just in time for a Sydney event.
A compact lightweight plans to once again show he’s not just size and strength, when he tries to skillfully put on a UFC eye-drawing performance.
Great on the mic and in the cage, a Carolina-based bantamweight sets out to confirm his UFC call is long overdue.
A 21-year-old phenom has the opportunity to continue his utter domination on the regional scene. Will it be his final bout before the inevitable UFC step up?
An exciting and young Texas flyweight is carving out a nice highlight reel, which he’ll look to add to in a potential UFC contract-earning Fury FC main event.
