[sigallery id=”AWjs7EUYLWrAGpxWm2hkgQ” title=”Ian McCall” type=”sigallery”]

Ian McCall still can’t pinpoint the medical condition that forced him to withdraw from his past two fights, and he doesn’t have the insurance to figure it out.

After a series of injuries previously sidelined him, his health is now keeping him out of the cage.

“I have no idea what’s going on, and the UFC, they can’t help me,” McCall (13-5-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie.

Officially, McCall was removed from a bout with Jarred Brooks at UFC 208 after he suffered gastrointestinal issues and was hospitalized. But McCall said his stay didn’t produce an actual diagnosis of the underlying cause. Doctors in Ireland called it food poisoning when he was scratched from a fight with Neil Seery at UFC Fight Night 99. Doctors in New York initially wanted to remove his gallbladder, then decided against it.

At the height of McCall’s symptoms, he was scared something was seriously wrong with him.

“My esophagus would do this thing – it would seize up,” McCall said. “And then I would lose blood flow to brain, then pass out. Then I’d end up throwing up from anywhere from an hour to on and off for a couple of days. That was happening during the (Justin) Scoggins training camp, and the (Ray) Borg camp. I was in and out of the hospital.”

Several times, McCall said, he hit his head after passing out.

The 32-year-old veteran acknowledges the UFC went out of its way to help him after his most recent health episode, paying for his hospital stay in the wake of his removal from the Brooks fight. McCall said the plan has benefited him on multiple occasions, paying for several surgeries he’s needed to recover from injuries he’s suffered while training.

But McCall added the coverage for day-to-day issues falls short, and he is uninsured outside the UFC’s plan, which provides accident coverage for fighters outside competition. He said promises of full coverage after his incident in New York were rescinded when he returned home.

“They told me when I was leaving New York that I’d be covered; everything I needed would be covered,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Cool, I can finally figure this out. I can finally get this done and do all the tests and make sure I’m not dying or some (expletive).’ But I got home, and I got a phone call that said, ‘Hey, man, we’re sorry. We can’t cover you.'”

After a series of financial hits unrelated to fighting, McCall is wary of going out of pocket to solve the issue when he can’t be certain of the diagnosis.

“It is (the UFC’s) fault, but at the same time, it’s not,” McCall said. “They’ve got an insurance plan that doesn’t help us.”

The UFC flyweight hasn’t fought since January 2015, when he lost a unanimous decision to John Lineker at UFC 183. He’s seen four consecutive bouts canceled over the past 10 months, an amazing stretch of bad luck by any measure.

McCall hasn’t looked into whether he could appeal his insurer’s denial of coverage, sounding defeated about the process. And his current UFC contract doesn’t leave him a lot of incentive to continue fighting. So for the moment, his MMA career is again in limbo.

“If I do ever fight again, it will be a lot more money than $16,000 and $16,000,” he said. “That’s just not worth my life and my health.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.