Dominick Reyes has dropped a shocker- the UFC Light Heavyweight fighter says he is lucky to be alive.
The former title contender was set to lock horns against Carlos Ulberg at UFC 297 on 20th January in Toronto, but was later rebooked for March 30th at UFC Atlantic City after Ulberg sustained an injury. However this time, it was Reyes who withdrew from the Atlantic City card for undisclosed reasons, as the UFC had announced last week.
🚨Reyes is out, Menifield is in! 🚨@UlbergCarlos is looking to break into the Top 1️⃣5️⃣ on March 31! pic.twitter.com/vDNUzfA6b9
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) January 23, 2024
Dominick Reyes reveals he’s suffering from blood clots, currently on blood thinners
Ten days after his withdrawal was made official, Reyes has opened up on the reason behind it. Speaking to James Lynch of MiddleEasy, “The Devastator” revealed that he has been suffering from a life-threatening blood clot, which is expected to keep him out of action for quite some time.
“Carlos and I were slated to fight on January 20. He pulled out. I don’t know why. An injury, obviously, but he’s not going to say what his injury is,” Reyes told Lynch. “Then a week later, I ended up getting blood clots. Deep vein thrombosis so I’m gonna be out for a minute… I’m lucky to be alive, that’s always nice. We caught it early so it didn’t become a pulmonary embolism and thank God for that which is kind of crazy because I got a massage while my leg was hurting. I thought I pulled a muscle in my calf, so I got a massage and that’s the worst thing you could ever do. I’m lucky I didn’t die on that massage table right there.”
Reyes further stated that he is treated with blood thinners and its expected to take atleast three months for him to recover, which is a difficult situation for the former 205-pound title contender.
“This is gut-wrenching. It’s definitely a tough situation. I’m out for a minimum of three months because of blood thinners,” Reyes added.
Retirement is not on Reyes’ mind
After remaining undefeated for 12 professional fights, Reyes has suffered a four fight losing streak including three knockouts, starting from the Jon Jones loss at UFC 247, to his most recent setback against Ryan Spann at UFC 281 in November 2022.
Despite the losing skid and the medical complications, Reyes is yet to hang up his gloves.
“No, I’m not ready to retire at all. Like I said to everybody else, the difference between me and most every other single fighter is my faults happened on a world stage when everybody was paying attention. I didn’t lose in the regional circuit, I didn’t make those mistakes in the regional circuit when nobody saw it. My mistakes happened in front of the whole world,” Reyes signed off.
Full interview via @MiddleEasy here https://t.co/EgkNLudy5h
— James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) February 2, 2024
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