One day before making his UFC debut at UFC 290, Josiah Harrell’s world turned upside down.
Following a routine medical check during fight week, doctors discovered he had Moyamoya, a rare brain disease that causes the arteries supplying blood to the brain to become narrowed or blocked.
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His bout with Jack Della Maddalena — who would go on to win the UFC welterweight title less than two years later — was immediately scrapped. Instead of walking to the Octagon, Harrell underwent a grueling nine-hour surgery in which doctors grafted two additional veins to his skull and inserted a titanium plate.