Punahele Soriano's planned July UFC return pushed back after car accident

Punahele Soriano’s momentum inside the UFC middleweight division has been interrupted outside the octagon, after the Hawaiian revealed he sustained a mild concussion and neck injuries in a car accident that has pushed back his planned July return.

Soriano disclosed the incident in an interview with Home of Fight, describing a low-speed collision near a red light. “I was like, I’m gonna look for a fight in July. I’m gonna start getting healthy; I’m gonna start training hard, but I got into a car accident,” Soriano said. “Some old man hit me. I got a mild concussion, my neck was jacked up. I was kind of embarrassed, actually because we were going slow, we were off a red light and just kind of T-bones me. I didn’t see it. I was so confused. It kind of messed me up.”

The timing is an unwelcome interruption for a fighter who has worked hard to rebuild his standing in the division. Soriano (13-4) arrived in the UFC with considerable hype as a finisher, but dropped four of five bouts between 2021 and 2023. He has since responded with four consecutive victories, adopting a more disciplined approach in the process.

His most recent outing came in February, when he earned a unanimous decision win over Ramiz Brahimaj. That result extended his winning run and had positioned him as a credible contender heading into the second half of 2026 — making the enforced layoff all the more frustrating for the 32-year-old.

No revised timeline for his return has been confirmed.