David Michaud announces withdrawal from PFL tournament due to heart condition, career in doubt

PFL welterweight contender David Michaud announced his withdrawal from the PFL tournament due to a heart condition and his career is in doubt.

Michaud is a former UFC fighter and current PFL standout who was expected to compete in the promotion’s upcoming welterweight tournament. As part of the regular season, “The Bulldawg” was scheduled to meet former UFC title contender Rory MacDonald in what would have been an awesome fight. Unfortunately for Michaud, he is out of the fight and out of the tournament due to serious health issues that have left his career in jeopardy.

Taking to his social media, Michaud announced the unfortunate news that he has a heart condition that has left him unable to fight anytime soon. Check out what “The Bulldawg” wrote on his Instagram.

So this is gonna be a tough post. After multiple tests on my heart including a Cardiac MRI and talking with multiple Cardiologists, I have been informed that I got a bad ticker. I have a Congenital bicuspid aortic valve with dilated aortic root. Unfortunately I was born with this and because of the dilation of the aorta, contact sports put me at risk for an aortic dissection which is a tear in the aorta. That would be fatal under almost all circumstances. For this reason I will not be able to fight Rory Macdonald on April 29th, and unless anything changes, ever again.

Michaud (18-6) fought in the UFC between 2014 and 2015, picking up a decision win over Garrett Whiteley with losses to Li Jingliang and Olivier Aubin-Mercier. He joined the PFL in 2019 during the promotion’s second season and so far has gone 3-2 in the organization. The last time we saw Michaud fight was in the finals of the PFL welterweight tournament in December 2019, when he suffered a knockout loss to winner Ray Cooper III.

We here at BJPenn.com wish David Michaud the best on his road to recovery.