On a sad note, the doctor from the Edmonton Boxing commission informed the promoter of the Maximum Fighting Championships, Mark Pavelich, that one of his superfight headliners Josh “The Gringo” Russell had a “cyst on his brain” and would not be allowed to fight. The condition was discovered when the fighter had a mandatory CAT  performed on him before his fight with the official weigh ins mere hours away. The harrowing discovery prompted another phone call to Josh Russell to inform him of the sad news and to no one’s surprise, it wasn’t easy to swallow...

It brings up the importance of having a commission in place to protect the MMA fighters who fight in the MMA arena.  Chances are if Mr. Russell were not preparin to fignt, he would not have had a CAT scan performed on himself. It could very well have saved him from possibly severe, injury or even death. It is unknown at this time how severe the situation is. Many “Underground” fights do not have doctors and commissioners overseeing the events and that is where problems can occur. Considering the young nature of the sport of MMA a serious injury could have severely set the sport back several yeas if not more.

MMA Ring Report spoke to one of the commissioners from the Edmonton Boxing and Wrestling comission, Dale Kliparchuck, and he told MMARR "Our medical screening process is working, our medical commission has so far caught two fighters in the last year, with medical conditions that would not allow them to fight so sanctioned events are working as intended."  

Brazilian Jiu Jitus black belt Josh Russell was set to make his MMA debut on MFC 9 “No Excuses” against hard nosed Lee Mein student Jesse Bongsfeldt on March 10th in Edmonton Alberta but instead he will fighting a different battle altogether. It is unknown at this time how this will affect his future life or his fighting career but MMA Ring Report wishes Mr. Russell the best in his recovery.