Dana White will have surgery Thursday in Los Angeles to treat a recently diagnosed case of Ménière's disease. The UFC president missed the promotion's Tuesday fight card at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. – the first event he's missed since he and partners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta purchased the company in January 2001.
White revealed the news via Twitter prior to the fights.
“First fight I will miss in 11 years and it is killing me,” White said. “I have to have surgery in L.A. tomorrow or trust me I would be [there].”
In April, he flew from Brazil on a Friday to attend a card in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday.
White told Yahoo! Sports that he has been suffering from symptoms for several months. At the post-fight news conference following UFC 141 in December, White ended the proceedings early. He said Tuesday the reason is that he was dizzy and felt he was going to pass out.
"I was on vacation in Fiji and it really started," White said. "Then, you remember that press conference [after UFC 141] where I was holding the podium? I was feeling terrible and things were spinning around."
White said he was meeting with the Fertittas at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening when he was afflicted badly. He was removed from the casino in a wheelchair, he said.
According to Yahoo! Health, Ménière's disease is a condition when fluid in the inner ear gets too high, and it can affect balance and hearing. Symptoms of Ménière's include tinnitus, hearing loss, vertigo, vomiting or nausea and a feeling of increased pressure in the ear. Surgery brings with it a risk of hearing loss, according to WebMD.
White said he is hopeful he'll be cured, but said "it totally sucks" missing the fight. He said he's been told he'll be unable to walk for about a week after the surgery.
"You know me and you know how I love to be at the fights, but I can't," White said. "If it were possible for me in any way, I'd be there. But I can't. I'm having fun [Tweeting] with the fans and watching on TV."
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