‘I Cannot Feel My Left Hand and Left Side of My Body’- Jan Blachowicz Details ‘Scary’ Health Situation

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz spoke to MMA Fighting and shared some grizzly details about a ‘scary injury’ that gripped him with fear recently. The Polish fighter candidly opened up about a terrifying ordeal that ended up with the left side of his body facing temporary paralysis.

Hearing a dynamic former champion vulnerably talk about health scares and struggles is a gentle reminder to fans that MMA is a dangerous sport. While it’s too early to attribute a single point of contact in the fight game as an issue, it’s safe to assume the years of fighting the very best could take its toll on the mind and the body of a fighter.

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Jan Blachowicz gives a harrowing account of his health scare

The former KSW and UFC champion talked about how he woke up feeling an extreme pain in his neck that led to partial paralysis to the left side of his body. Additionally, he attributed the pain to some training drills he participated in while working out in the gym.

“I wake up [on] one of the Mondays, and I feel a pain in my neck,” Blachowicz explained to MMA Fighting. “I think maybe I just slept bad, and that’s why I felt the pain. 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.”

Moreover, an MRI confirmed that the pain he was experiencing was not normal and was unlike something he had experienced before.

“It was completely off, paralyzed. Then I think, it’s not a normal pain. It’s 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. That’s why I had this feeling that I could not feel my left side.”

“It was scary,” he said. “You don’t know what happened. You can’t move your left hand. It was a weird feeling for me. A new thing, a scary thing.”

The MMA world will be looking for updates on Blachowicz’s condition, as such a serious injury can go a long way in derailing the career of a promising fighter. Despite losing the belt, Blachowicz certainly has what it takes to regain the championship strap.