Ian McCall: There’s something wrong inside of me, I can’t cut weight anymore

To say UFC flyweight Ian McCall has been unlucky of late would be an understatement. Since he last fought in January of 2015, he has been scheduled to fight five separate times, and not one of these scheduled fights has come to fruition.

Though several of these cancelled fights have been due to opponent injuries and other issues, many of them can also be attributed to bouts of illness on McCall’s side. Apparently, these bouts of illness are not just random bugs, but part of a larger health problem that seems to be thrown into overdrive by weight cuts.

On the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio, McCall detailed this health issue, and how it effected him in his recent cancelled bouts with Neil Seery.

“I got sick in Ireland” he said. “I had some preexisting things that were going on in my body already. I was in and out of the ER a couple times in training camp. And then I got sick cutting weight. [The doctors] said it was food poisoning. I came back, they tried to rebook the fight [with Seery]. When they did, Neil pulled out, I felt great. I changed up some of my diet stuff. Then I felt great coming into the [most recent attempt at] the fight, then cutting weight I got sick.”

“There’s something wrong with me,” he continued. “There’s something wrong inside of me. I can’t cut weight anymore. I can’t. I might not be able to fight. I’ve been passing out and stuff. I don’t know what’s up.” 

McCall then commented on the common fan perception that he might be cursed.

“They’re definitely right, there’s something inherently wrong with me,” he said. “But whatever, that’s life I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know what I did. I pissed somebody off, I did something wrong. I don’t know why all this shit happened to me.” 

When asked what these recent health troubles will mean for his future as a professional fighter, McCall was uncertain. Apparently, he’s barely been able to train.

“I don’t know,” he said, when asked if he’d ever compete in mixed martial arts again. “I’m thinking about trying to do some grappling just to excite myself because I’m bored. I need to get in shape. I need to wrestle. I’m going f*cking crazy. I’ve worked out three times I think since I got out of the hospital. So, I’m going f*cking nuts.”

“I just haven’t felt like [training],” he said. “Physically or mentally. I’ve just been so ‘blah.'”

McCall then explained that, for the moment, his priority is figuring out what is going wrong in his body. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much luck on this end thus far.

“No one has any idea what’s going on,” he said. “And the [UFC] insurance doesn’t cover me past the event, so I’m not really seeing any doctors at the moment.”

“I’m going to see an neurologist soon in my area, and then I’ll hopefully go from there,” he added. “We haven’t done any neuro stuff, we’ve done all stuff with my gut. All gastro stuff. We haven’t done any neuro stuff, so maybe we’ll go there and that’ll prove something. I don’t know.” 

The fan favorite flyweight was then asked if he had any sense of when he might be able to return to competition. Apparently, he hasn’t given it too much thought. He just wants to get his health in check.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I can’t put a number on it because I really have no idea what’s going on.”

“I’m just focused on getting better.” 

Be sure to send your well-wishes to the struggling Ian McCall on social media!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/20/2017.