I’m going to take it easy on Bellator fighter Alexander Shlemenko here today, because it’s quite apparent from reading these recent comments that he’s either not all there mentally or just isn’t very smart.
I mean, how else can you explain this wacky interview?
I can tell you for sure, 100%, I know why there are so many injuries. I personally find UFC fights not as exciting because of all those injuries. There are a lot of background tactics around who’s fighting who; fighters are trying really hard to have a good record in the UFC. If you’ve been offered to fight someone who’s considered a bad match-up, then it’s pretty easy to say ‘hey, I’m injured’.
For example, they offered Brian Stann to fight Hector Lombard. He got injured, and then the next thing you know – he’s fighting Michael Bisping. I can see the logic – for Brian Stann it makes more sense to fight Bisping, he’s simply more popular in the UFC than Hector Lombard. That’s why beating Bisping means more than beating Lombard, who’s a risky opponent.
You can fake every injury. Just tell [UFC doctors] about the symptoms and that’s it.
We should get one thing straight, right here off the top, because Alexander is quite obviously confused about how the process of visiting doctors actually works.
Fighters who are injured don’t visit “UFC doctors,” mostly because there are no such thing as “UFC doctors.” There are specialists in Las Vegas and Orange County who the UFC regularly sends fighters to, but only for secondary opinions. There is no magic hospital in that black Zuffa office down on Sahara in Vegas with doctors wearing lab coats covered in Tapout logos.
The first recourse for an injured fighter is to visit his own doctor. Once an injury is confirmed by that doctor, the fighter’s management then sends all of the pertinent documentation over to the Zuffa offices. This is standard operating procedure for every single injury in the UFC; there’s never been a single instance where a fighter simply says he’s injured and is allowed to back out of a fight without providing actual, visible proof.
But then again, this is all very silly because Shlemenko decided to accuse Brian Stann of faking an injury. Brian Stann. You know, the last guy in the entire world who would ever fake an injury? Yeah, that guy.
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