SHAHID Hussain has opened his heart on the decision to pull him out of a fight with Nathan Jones on BAMMA 34.

Hussain, 38, intended to make a statement on the show at the Wembley Arena which would have been his return to the promotion after a seven-year absence.

However, the Slough-based star was ruled out of the fight after a medical found an issue with high blood pressure.

Hussain is disappointed with the decision having been cleared to fight with a similar issue before, but he insists it will not rule him out for long and plans a return to the sport in May.

He told the Observer: “It is not something I would have preferred but it’s one of those things. GPs are medical specialists and mine would not sign me off.

“GPs can 100 per cent be funny people sometimes . It would have been my 25th professional fight and I’ve been signed me off before, so why not now?

“I was told it was a precautionary measure and had to do another test. It was tight time-wise but I thought let us see what happens.

“I was told if I do the test on March 1 the results would not come back until the 6 or 7 and that would not be fair on the opponent.

“The promotion would rather pull the fight than look for a replacement and I can understand that. Hopefully the fight will be put on another card.

“I’m gutted but know that medical assessments take priority. I didn’t want to take it any further even though I had been signed off before.

“I had loads of people that would have been going with me, there would have been an army of people turning up. Some of them attended anyway because it was such a good card.

“I was so disheartened I could not be bothered to go because I would have had to explain myself to everyone.”

Hussain explained: “My blood pressure is borderline so I have to have it monitored for 24 hours, but it’s not as straightforward as that.

“They work out an average over seven days and will only send you to one clinic.

There’s nothing else to it but it’s always on the high side during my training camps because I’m training five or six times a day.”

Looking ahead to the future, Hussain said: "I will do the tests but on the NHS even in the results don't come back until a few weeks later.

"I will keep on training, keep the weight low and look at a possible return in mid-May. Whether or not that will be on the BAMMA show I'm not sure because I observe Ramadan and that kicks in on the 17th, so I will not be fighting then.

"I will back with the BAMMA promotion in the future, and even other promotions have contacted my manager to ask about my availability."

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