Uriah Hall thinks he "had a mini-seizure and, at the same time, a slight heart attack" in the days leading up to UFC Fight Night on Sunday, the middleweight said in a live video on Instagram.
He was supposed to fight Vitor Belfort but was pulled from the card after not showing up to the official weigh-in Saturday. Little information surfaced as to why.
Hall, 33, broke his silence on Instagram. He apologized to Belfort and his camp and said, "It was a harder cut than normal because the injuries that I had didn't allow me to really cut the weight properly."
Hall elaborated: "I was in the hospital, of course. It was probably the most traumatic experience I've ever had. I was in and out of it -- I was conscious, but I was unconscious. I knew what was happening but I was fighting over it. ... My kidneys were just not good.
"... It was an injury that I ignored and it just caught up to me. My body was just not responsive to it."
That exact injury is unknown at this time, but Hall said he "neglected my safety and my health -- which was the dumbest thing to do" while cutting weight.
"The doctor even said that even if I had made weight, I probably would have died the next day because my body wasn't having it," Hall said. "Like I said, I'm never going to ignore my health again.
"I did it for the fans, I did it to get paid and I did it to make sure I showed up. But at the end of the day, your life is not worth it. My safety comes first."
Hall (13-8) was coming off a second-round TKO win against Krzysztof Jotko in September. He previously lost three consecutive bouts.