When he fought in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC Vegas 8 card, Neil Magny looked like a world beater. However he has since revealed that he nearly could not make it to the Octagon due to being sick before the fight.
To be fair, Magny is an ultra talented fighter in the welterweight division, despite never quite reaching the top echelon of the weight class. He is a tricky and crafty veteran, who is tough for anyone to beat, and when you do manage to get by him, you never look good in the process. However last weekend saw arguably the best performance of his career, as he outstruck, outgrappled, and completely dominated former champion Robbie Lawler.
Neil Magny Was Almost Too Sick To Fight
Despite the incredible way he won the fight, Neil Magny apparently almost had to withdraw from the bout before it went down. Speaking with SiriusXM, he explained that a few hours prior to the fight, he was super sick. This had him miserable to the point that he was giving serious thought to pulling out on super short notice.
“If you had seen me five hours before that Robbie Lawler fight, you would not have thought I was going to fight that night. I don’t know what it is I ate the night before, but I woke up Saturday morning sick as a dog,” Magny said. “I got up around noon, and then right after I was like ‘man I feel kind of nauseous, I think I’m going to lay down for a bit.’ I laid down, and within ten minutes of laying down I was like ‘dude, I’m going to throw up.’ I went to the bathroom and was just puking left and right, and I was like this is not good. Here I am, getting ready for the biggest fight of my life, and I’m just not able to hold down anything.”
Magny goes on to explain how no matter what he ate or drank, he could not keep anything down. When he got to the venue before the fight, he was finally able to drink some water to take his pre-fight drug test. However he was far from feeling back to normal.
“If I was any lighter, I would have been pale,” Magny explained. “I was that sick and depleted heading into that fight. I was just like ‘screw it, here we are. There’s no going back now.’ It was not a good feeling. I was just laying there thinking if my coaches see how sick I am, they will make the call for me and I can avoid being the bad guy. I was not in a good place a couple of hours before that fight.”
🔊 "I was not in a good place a couple of hours prior to that fight," @NeilMagny reveals that he didn't know if he would be able to compete at #UFCVegas8 because he was so sick. 😲@RyanMcKinnell @MieshaTate pic.twitter.com/x9iViQlQZr
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 2, 2020
A fighter competing when sick is not exactly newsworthy; it happens more often than you’d think. However the fact that Neil Magny had the best performance of his career, just after contemplating not fight because he was so sick, is absolutely commendable. It also makes you wonder how good he can be at his best.
