By Speaking to the press before UFC 284, UFC debutant Shannon Ross shared a story about how he fought on Dana White’s Contender Series with appendicitis, something that everyone agrees provides absolutely no reason to pause and reconsider whether appropriate safeguards exist in mixed martial arts. Ross explained how he was dealing with the symptoms, which left him with severe illness and blood poisoning, throughout fight week, which is totally fine because he came out the other side of being beaten up while dealing with a critical condition with a UFC contract, so it’s really all worth it if you think about it.
Everyone agreed that fighting with an inflamed appendix won’t kill you most of the time and will instead just be very painful and debilitating, so it’s all good and we don’t have to ask any questions like what it says about the efficacy of pre-fight medicals and the sincerity of commissions’ purported role as protectors of licensed fighters. After all, it’s not like he was out there fighting with a fake eye or something.
