Dominick
Reyes considers himself extremely lucky to be alive after
surviving a life-threatening medical condition.
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The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title
challenger was slated to face
City Kickboxing product Carlos
Ulberg on March 30 but later withdrew from the matchup.
Reyes (12-4) has now revealed that a massage session to reduce pain
in his calf led to the revelation that he was suffering from
deep-vein thrombosis blood clots in his leg.
“God puts us through some trials, and I’m having another hard go
right now,” Reyes told MiddleEasy. “Me and Carlos were slated to fight Jan.
20. He pulled out, I don’t know why. It’s an injury, obviously, but
he’s not going to say what his injury is. And then a week later, I
ended up getting blood clots. Deep vein thrombosis. So yeah, I’m
out for a minute.”
The California native has been prescribed blood thinners and a
break from all strenuous activity for the next three months. While
the entire situation is self-admittedly frustrating and upsetting
for him, Reyes is happy to be alive and well.
“I’m lucky to be alive right now; that’s always nice,” Reyes said.
“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.
My leg was hurting, and I thought I pulled a muscle in my calf, so
I got a massage, and that’s the worst thing you can ever do. I’m
lucky I didn’t die on that massage table right there.”
Reyes, 34, is currently on a four-fight losing skid and has been
out of action since November 2022. Following a controversial
unanimous decision loss to then-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones,
Reyes has recorded three losses all by way of finish against the
likes of Jan
Blachowicz, Jiri
Prochazka and Ryan Spann.