UFC fighter - who once had rare brain disease - suffers brutal KO

UFC fighter's don't tend to approach life in the same way as mere mortals and Josiah Harrell was given a brutal reminder of their unforgiving world on Saturday night. The American suffered a grotesque knockout, where the referee intervened far too late and he absorbed excessive punishment on the ground. At UFC Houston, Harrell tasted defeat for the first time in his career against Jacobe Smith in what was one of the worst knockouts Dana White has seen 'for a long time'. Harrell was rushed to hospital afterwards and in his post-event press conference, the UFC president said: 'One of the worst ones I’ve seen in a long time. 'I can’t remember the last time I saw one where I was like, "oh s*** this is not good". 'He took a long time to recover but so far, so good. He seemed like he’s okay. We’re going to watch him all night.' The knockout takes on an even more severe context given the fact that Harrell was previously diagnosed with a rare brain disease. It was discovered during a routine medical check prior to a bout scheduled against Jack Della Maddalena. They found he had a condition called Moyamoya that causes the arteries supplying blood to the brain to become narrowed or blocked. During the gruelling nine-hour operation, surgeons incredibly grafted two additional veins to his skull and also fit a titanium plate. Most would consider giving up getting punched in the face for a living but Harrell redoubled his efforts to pursue his MMA dream. He was not the only fighter to take a trip in the ambulance on one of the more bruising Fight Night cards in recent memory. Ramiz Brahimaj also went for a CT scan after taking some heavy punishment during a 15-minute battle with Puna Soriano. There were also distressing scenes with female French fighter Nora Cornolle heard screaming in agony after being submitted by Joselyne Edwards. She suffered what appeared to be major damage to her shoulder and collarbone area after being slammed unconscious and then tapped later in the fight-ending sequence.