Ian McCall Talks Battle With Food Poisoning

Ian McCall had one of the worst years any fighter can possibly have without losing in 2016, as all three fights he was scheduled for were canceled.

McCall was set to fight Neil Seery at UFC Fight Night 99, but he came down with food poisoning, something that McCall had a hard time fighting.

“All I had was eggs and vegetables,” he told Bloody Elbow. “It was nothing crazy. By the time I was done eating, I had to go upstairs, I threw everything up, went back downstairs, was talking to my coaches and team, went upstairs again, kept throwing up. So then I went to press day. I didn’t know how bad I looked, but I didn’t look very good. I went back home, I tried to have him cook me more food. He cooked me very bland — very healthy, but very bland — food, because I was already throwing up. I think I threw up three or four meals he tried to cook me the rest of that day. I think it was an hour to 90 minutes before weigh-ins, and my body just shut down. I started throwing up, and I thought I was having a stroke at one point. My whole face went weirdly numb and droopy. I couldn’t move, really. It was a really strange feeling. Once I thought I was having a stroke, I just said, ‘Go get a doctor. There’s something wrong with me.’ By the time they went and got the doctor and came back, I was throwing up and I was a mess, so then they just said, ‘You’re not going to fight.’”

McCall, who is set to fight Seery in February at UFC 208, recently made a change in that he now trains with the RCVA team out of California.

“I just needed a change,” he said. “I’ve spent pretty much my whole professional career with Colin Oyama at Team Oyama. It was nothing bad; I just woke up one day and needed a change. I couldn’t leave the state, because I have a child, a girlfriend, and a house, and I’m just not that kind of person. The next option was to go see my friends at RVCA. It’s an amazing facility. It’s more tailored to just a single person, and that’s kind of what I wanted. I’ve had a long relationship with guys like B.J. Penn and Jason Parillo, who’s a coach there, so it was a natural fit.”

UFC 208 takes place February 11, 2017 from the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York.