Coach: Duffy suffered concussion on last day of sparring

Yesterday afternoon news broke that ‘UFC Fight Night: Dublin’ headliner Joseph Duffy was forced out of his main event bout against Dustin Poirier due to a concussion.

This raised the question of ‘Why was a headlining fighter sparring just days before his fight?’ Duffy’s head coach, Firas Zahabi explained to MMAFighting via text message.

“He suffered a concussion on the last day of sparring.”

“Concussions are a serious thing, and I trust the doctor made the best call for Joe’s health. A week is not long for a concussion to heal.”

Zahabi explained that his fighters “always” spar the week before a fight.

With Duffy out of the headlining fight, Paddy Holohan vs. Louis Smolka has been promoted to the main-event bout.