A severe back condition forced German lightweight out of UFC bout with Jon Tuck this Sunday, almost left him paralyzed.
German lightweight Nick Hein nearly risked permanent paralysis during preparation for his preliminary fight versus Jon Tuck at UFC Fight Night Rotterdam this Sunday.
The former national Judo champion and police officer was diagnosed with a severe back injury when he left his training camp in Thailand, but at first refused to stay in the hospital, so he could go on with his fight. The UFC later pulled him from the card.
"On my flight back from Thailand I experienced first stirrings in my left arm," Hein explained himself on his official Facebook account. "At the security control on the airport I had problems pulling my notebook out of my bag. Back in Germany, my arm became more and more numb. On Saturday I started to panic and went to a hospital, where a neural damage was diagnosed. They wanted to keep me in the hospital right away, what would automatically have led to a direct cancellation of my fight. I told them that this wasn't an option and left the hospital."
Hein subsequently underwent an MRI on Monday. The dire diagnosis: a severe herniation of one of his spinal discs.
"The doctors feverishly started working on a therapy," Hein continued. "A special injection into my spine could have been a possible solution, but without guaranteed success. Without appropriate therapy I would have faced paraplegia, the doctors told me. The UFC ultimately had to make a decision, and they decided to pull me off the card for safety reasons."
The UFC is looking to replace Hein with another opponent, so Tuck can go on with his fight as planned. UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Arlovski takes place this Sunday in Rotterdam, Netherlands' Ahoy Arena and is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Alistair Overeem andAndrei Arlovski.
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