Jan Blachowicz reveals paralysis scare.
It wasn’t that long ago that Jan Blachowicz was the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, but his path to getting back on top has now seen quite the setback.
βI woke up [on] one of the Mondays, and I feel a pain in my neck,β revealed Blachowicz to MMA Fighting.
βI think maybe I just slept bad, and thatβs why I felt the pain.”
Jan Blachowicz is the kind of guy to buy you a beer on your birthday before you fight one another for the UFC title.
Happy Birthday to Polish Power! π΅π±pic.twitter.com/sQqeQvi2lu
β UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) February 24, 2022
At the time Blachowicz thought nothing of the pain but after training his fear grew worse.
“In the gym, we did some drills, and I took one shot on my guard, and I felt a really hard pain in my neck, and I cannot feel my left hand and left side of my body.
βIt was completely off, paralyzed. Then I think, itβs not a normal pain. Itβs something worse.
“I go to the doctor, we do an MRI and I have something [a disc] in my neck that puts pressure on the nerve. Thatβs why I had this feeling that I could not feel my left side.β
“Wrestling is power.”
Post-fight, π @TeamKhabib shared a moment with π @JanBlachowicz.
[ π» Full T&A episode on @UFCFightPass ] pic.twitter.com/S2KxmMMVbK
β UFC (@ufc) March 12, 2021
“I will not risk my health to do that”
The doctor was able to alleviate the initial feeling of paralysis but fears of surgery were still real. Luckily for Blachowicz, surgery wasn’t necessary.
βIt was scary. You donβt know what happened. You canβt move your left hand. It was a weird feeling for me. A new thing, a scary thing.
βThe doctor said, ‘Weβll see after three weeks. If rehabilitation helps, then we donβt need surgery. If it doesnβt help, weβre going to have to do some surgery,’ but Iβm a lucky guy. No surgery, just rehabilitation and medicine.
πππππ‘πππ₯π¬ π£π’πππ¦π π£π’πͺππ₯ β’ π΅π±
π #OnThisDay in 2019 – @JanBlachowicz shut it down.
[ via @UFConThisDay ] pic.twitter.com/AKRTQkI34R
β UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2021
Even though he’s feeling better now, Blachowicz is still wary of stepping in for another fight in the near future, meaning his fight against Aleksandar Rakic will have to be called off.
βI cannot do stuff like that. After my UFC career, there is still life to do, living with my son and stuff like this so now, first of all, I have to be healthy and then I can fight.
βI will not risk my health to do that. First of all, I need to be healthy and then I can do the fights.β