It was a wild fight day for “The Great Ape.”
Alexander Hernandez got back into the win column at UFC 307 this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 5, 2024), scoring a split decision win over Austin Hubbard from inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hernandez snapped his two-fight losing streak.
During his post-fight interview with the media, Hernandez revealed that he, his teammate Brandon Royval, and his coach witnessed a shooting in Salt Lake City a few hours before his important fight.
“On the way home for breakfast, I saw someone get shot,” Hernandez said. “My boy, “Rawdawg,” [Royval], chased down the shooter. Kind of crazy. I was like, ‘Dude, we got sh-t to do today. Bro, we don’t have time to play IceT on SVU; we gotta get to the f—king hotel.’
Hernandez explained more of the story when asked.
“Dude, I just copped an avocado toast, and I was walking home, back to the hotel; we turn this corner, and we hear, like, five shots rattle off,” Hernandez said. “Brandon loves to yell gunshots. I’m like, it could be f—king anything. He’s like, ‘No, it’s gunshots.’ And I’m like, it could be. And then we hear another round. I’m like, that sounds a little gunshotty…and then these guys come panting like running past us, and Brandon goes, ‘Yo, what happened?’ He’s like, ‘Nothing, nothing, just run.’ Turns out that was the guy with the gun…and then [Royval], like a f—king Doberman, goes running after him. And I’m like, ‘Dude, [the hotel] is the other way, we gotta go the other way. And he’s gone.
“And so I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m warming up. I’m going back to the hotel.’ So I start going that way. He’s f—king on the prowl, like Sherlock Holmes, and he’s chasing after him. And then eventually the cops and Brandon saw this guy, and I went through my rollout and breath session, and everyone you know made it back together,” Hernandez concluded.
According to Fox13 Salt Lake City, the man who was shot eventually died, and the shooter, Farshad Hassan-Pouri, was arrested two blocks away from the shooting.
UFC fighters just like to chase down criminals … before title fights.
For more UFC 307 results and fallout click here.