UFC champion Max Holloway provides small update on his condition

Max Holloway has been mostly quiet on social media since a serious health scare earlier this month. On Thursday, he provided fans an update on his physical condition on Twitter.

The UFC featherweight champion wrote that he is “starting to feel better” after having to withdraw from UFC 226 due to concussion-like symptoms.

In the tweet, Holloway wrote that he left his native Hawaii and is “back on the mainland” for more testing.

Holloway’s management team Sucker Punch Entertainment sent out a statement three days out of UFC 226 stating that Holloway would be unable to defend his title on the card against Brian Ortega, because of those concussion-like issues. Holloway was slurring his words, having flashing vision and had a hard time waking up after the UFC 226 open workouts, his team said.

In interviews in the days leading up to fight week, including the one after his open workout, Holloway seemed off. UFC Tonight co-host Michael Bisping even called him out for it on the air on FS1. Holloway later thanked him for that on Twitter.

Holloway, 26, won the UFC featherweight title by beating Jose Aldo last year after winning the interim belt previously. “Blessed” successfully defended the belt against Aldo at UFC 218 last December, finishing him for a second straight time.

Holloway (19-3), though, has had a difficult 2018. He had to pull out of a title fight against Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 in March due to a foot injury. He then tried to turn around and face Khabib Nurmagomedov on less than a weeks notice for the lightweight title, but was not able to make it to the scale with the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) pulling the plug on a tough weight cut.

Just one day before Holloway was forced out of UFC 226, he won the Fighters Only World MMA Award for 2017 Fighter of the Year.