Middleweight Ian Heinisch (14-5) wont be competing in the UFC in the coming months and perhaps even longer.
Over the past years Heinisch has been experiencing alarming health issues. This has led to him now taking a break from MMA and even going so far as to removing himself from the USADA testing pool, meaning that he will not be able to compete in the UFC again until he has completed six months of testing with USADA.
“I started noticing some health issues that I didn’t really know where they came from,” Heinisch said in an Instagram video. “I started having skin issues. The doctor said it was folliculitis, but it would turn into staph and sometimes MRSA. I got prescribed antibiotic, after antibiotic, after antibiotic. I know other fighters are going through this. I know it. Eventually my stomach was completely wrecked. I had blood in my stool for over a year.”
According to Heinisch its the overuse of antibiotics that seems to be the main culprit. The breaking point occurred after a 2021 TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov. Following that loss Heinisch simply couldn’t return to a normal state in training and experienced serious issues in sparring.
“After my last loss, I came back to training about a month after, took a head kick, got dropped,” Heinisch said. “I didn’t get knocked out or nothing, but these side effects were terrible. I felt like I was walking on a boat. I felt like my brain was disconnected from my brain. The emotions that were running through me were so crazy. I thought my career was over.”
It eventually led to Heinisch seeking out stem cell treatment, which gave a momentary improvement.
“I tried so hard, man. I tried so hard,” Heinisch said. “I went back to Colorado and started training next to my recovery center. (I thought) it would be beneficial for me and it would maintain my training. First couple of weeks went really good. Third week, I got hit with a knee in sparring. For four days I would feel like if I would turn my head I would fall over. Equilibrium was off. It would mess with my emotions and my character and everything.”
Despite all this Heinisch hopes to return to the UFC in the near future, though it will all depend on his health status.