Josiah
Harrell needs at least $80,000 to help cover the surgery needed
to treat the brain condition that forced him out of his
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.
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The 25-year-old mixed martial artist recently launched a GoFundMe account to pay for the expenses
associated with the procedure required to treat moyamoya, which is
a “rare vascular disease of the brain in which the main arteries
that supply blood to your brain become narrowed and blocked,”
according to pennmedicine.org.
Harrell was supposed to make his first Octagon foray against
Jack
Della Maddalena on short notice at UFC 290, but a pre-fight
brain scan caught the condition and
forced him out of the fight. The Ohioan was supposed to undergo
surgery shortly thereafter the July diagnosis, but financial issues
have apparently complicated that situation.
“As of right now I cannot go any further with anything that has to
do with surgery until I have [$80,000] up front,” Harrell wrote on
his GoFundMe page. “The UFC insurance cannot cover me. So I will be
on hold until further notice. Just got updated today. Got withheld
information for about six months.”
Harrell’s manager informed MMAjunkie.com that the surgery was scheduled
for Tuesday at the Moyamoya Center at Stanford Health Care in Palo
Alto, Calif. Harrell is expected to require at least a
three-to-four month recovery period before he can resume training.
There is a positive past precedent for the disease: “The Ultimate
Fighter” veteran Vince
Murdock returned to competition after having surgery to have
the condition corrected.
Harrell currently owns a 7-0 professional record, with appearances
in
Legacy Fighting Alliance and
Cage Fury Fighting Championships to his credit. His last bout
was a third-round stoppage of Michael
Roberts at LFA 160 in June 2023.