Ethyn Ewing breaks his silence after ‘detrimental injury’ forced him off Conor McGregor’s return card

Ethyn Ewing has finally confirmed that he is no longer competing at UFC 329 on July 11.

The 10-2 bantamweight fighter was supposed to face Farid Basharat on the undercard of Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2 next weekend.

On Monday, it was widely reported that Ethyn Ewing was out of his fight with the 15-0 prospect.

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Ethyn Ewing has been injured for five weeks

Ethyn Ewing and Farid Basharat were originally scheduled to fight at UFC Vegas 119 on June 20.

Their matchup was pushed back to Conor McGregor‘s comeback card for undisclosed reasons.

In a new update, Ewing has confirmed that an injury is the reason for that pushback and his subsequent withdrawal from UFC 329.

“I’m here to officially address all those who have been watching and following and anticipating my July 11th bout,” he said in an Instagram video on Friday.

“I did sustain a detrimental injury about five weeks ago. It’s one that slowed the training. I was not able to spar hard. I had to work around it. I did everything I could to endure, and my mindset was always that I would go in there even if it was at 50 percent.

“Now, I have a great wise counsel around me, people who have my best interest in mind, and together we came to the conclusion that going in at 50 percent was not the smart decision and was not the right decision.

“There is no one who wanted to see me in that cage or to be in that cage more than myself. It was a hard decision. It really sucks. It’s not what I wanted by any means. But I think that there is a reason for it, there is a lesson to be learned, and I think the Lord has a greater plan.

“So I will sit, I will be patient, I will gain whatever knowledge I’m supposed to gain from this, and I will come back better. I will get the injury fixed, I will take my time to make sure it is 100 percent, and so when I do return, it will be in spectacular fashion. It will be done with finesse, and it will be a masterclass performance.

“To all of those who support, to all of those who watch, keep doing so. You will see great things out of me, and again, when I return, it will be spectacular.”

Farid Basharat reacts to losing his UFC 329 opponent

It’s currently unclear if Farid Basharat will get a replacement opponent or lose his spot on the UFC 329 card.

The 28-year-old reacted to Ethyn Ewing’s withdrawal from their fight a day after it became public knowledge.

“First of all I want the fans to know that I feel like Ethyn Ewing dodged a bullet,” Basharat said on Tuesday.

“Like I said, speedy recovery to him, but as much as the fans loved him and they were rooting for him, it wasn’t going to go well for him.

“July 11, when we did get in the cage, the fans were never going to help him. The hype was never going to help him. At the end of the day, it was going to be him against me in the cage, locked for 15 minutes, and there was only one outcome for that.”