Veteran mixed martial arts (MMA) flyweight Ian McCall hasn’t competed since late Jan. 2015. “Uncle Creepy” was going to fight in August of that year, but an injury forced him to pull out of his scheduled bout with Dustin Ortiz.
Once he was healthy, McCall was booked to meet Justin Scoggins. Unfortunately, a botched weight cut on Scoggins’ part canceled the fight. McCall had yet another fight scrapped when Ray Borg went down with an illness.
McCall was booked to face Neil Seery at UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs. Hall 2. “Uncle Creepy” came down with a nasty case of food poisoning. McCall told BloodyElbow.com that the illness had major negative effects on his body:
“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.’”
The culprit of the food poisoning was the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) complimentary breakfast. The meal simply didn’t mesh with McCall’s system.
“All I had was eggs and vegetables. 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.”
After his recovery, McCall decided to switch camps. “Uncle Creepy” had been a mainstay at Team Oyama for most of his career. McCall moved to RVCA, but he did so on good terms.
“I just needed a change. 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.”
