Paige VanZant has been forced out of her upcoming title match in Power Slap after doctors discovered a severe injury in her neck that required immediate attention.
The former UFC prospect broke the news on her Instagram while revealing the nature of the injury that caused her to drop off the event scheduled for June 27 during International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
“My upcoming Power Slap match for the title is postponed,” VanZant said. “Unfortunately, I had to pull out. I have a pretty severe neck injury. If it was not such a big deal, I definitely would still compete, especially because I was just really excited. It’s such a big deal and I was so excited for Power Slap to give me the opportunity to fight for a title.
“I have what is called a spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma. It actually didn’t come from training. It is a one in a million, freak, crazy injury that happened in my neck.”
A spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is described as a disorder that “manifests from blood accumulating in the epidural space, compressing the spinal cord and leading to acute neurological deficits.” Typically treatment involves surgery that “removes a portion of the vertebra’s lamina (the back arch of the bone) to create more space in the spinal canal and relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.”
VanZant said after she had an MRI, she had to seek out help from a neurosurgeon “immediately” and that’s when she received the diagnosis about her neck.
“Basically the neurosurgeon at this point, one is surprised that I don’t have any neurological issues because it’s extremely serious, a lot of times people become paralyzed, start losing function of their arms and legs pretty quickly. I don’t have that, which is a really good sign.”
The injury has forced VanZant to delay her Power Slap match, and for now, she’s just waiting on her next appointment Thursday to figure out a plan for treatment before she can plot her return to action.
“The next steps, they ordered me a bunch more tests,” VanZant said. “We have to figure out why this happened. Basically, I have a bleed in my spine, we have to figure out where it came from and why this happened because it is extremely rare and typically only happens in high trauma situations like car accidents and obviously I haven’t been in a car accident, especially recently and I haven’t been sparring. I haven’t been going live. I’ve strictly been getting ready for Power Slap so for this to happen, the neurosurgeons want to understand why.”
While there’s a chance for much greater injury to result from this kind of internal bleeding, VanZant is confident that’s not what is happening to her and plans to resume her career in the near future.
“If it does get bigger, there is a chance I will be paralyzed. That’s just a reality, I’ve come to accept,” VanZant said. “I feel really good. I’m in good spirits. It’s concerning and I’m being very careful and obviously I pulled out for a reason.
“But the way I feel right now, I have a feeling this was just a freak thing. My body’s going to reabsorb the bleed, it’s not going to get worse and I’m going to continue on with my career.”
