UFC veteran Mike Swick revealed he has been fighting cancer in the "toughest battle" of his life, but is confident he will make a full recovery.
Swick was a contestant on the first-ever season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2004 and went to make 15 appearances for the promotion.
His last fight came at UFC 189 in July 2015 when he returned after a three-year layoff but was defeated by Alex Garcia at the event.
Since retiring from fighting, Swick has focused on running his gym (AKA Thailand) in Phuket, but the 42-year-old revealed how the last five weeks of his life have been very different.
"Anyway, for those wondering where I have been the last 5 weeks, I been battling cancer in the toughest and most aggressive battle I have ever had," Swick wrote on Instagram.
He revealed his efforts to try and fight the cancer which included chemotherapy sessions, days of not drinking any water and following a plant-based diet.
And after doing all of this Swick's condition had drastically improved as his swollen lymph nodules had disappeared.
" After 7 days all 15+ swollen lymph nodes in my neck were completely gone. Never had a single fever throughout, and vitals were always normal. Round 1 went to me for sure," he continued.
"I will get a scan and update in just over a week but I decided not to hide this. I want everyone to watch as I beat this BS and recover myself back to 100% with a full recovery. So stay tuned."
Swick, who fought as a professional for almost two decades, was battling cancer for seven months before being made aware of it.
He initially suspected his bod was reacting to a Covid-19 vaccination he had, even passing the first biopsy he underwent on his lymph odes.
"I apparently had this for over 7 months without knowing. Even after passing an initial biopsy on my lymph node," he continued.
"Since all vitals were good and I passed all regular tests and blood work, we assumed it was the Johnson and Johnson vaccine side effects, since the nodes swole up literally the day after I got it.
"So if you scroll back 7 months on my IG [Instagram], you can see how much fun I was having with cancer and not even knowing it. Free-diving, skydiving, training… kinda crazy. Be safe everyone and never listen to the first diagnosis."
Current and former UFC fighters such as Daniel Cormier, Calvin Kattar and Tyron Woodley all voiced their support for Swick on his post.
