Former undisputed light heavyweight title challenger, Dominick Reyes has revealed a planned return to the Octagon at UFC Atlantic City against the surging, Carlos Ulberg at the end of March, was shelved as he deals with a series of life-threatening blood clots.
Reyes, a two-time light heavyweight title challenger under the banner of the promotion, has been sidelined since he featured at UFC 281 back in 2022, suffering a thunderous opening round KO loss to Ryan Spann.
The defeat came as Hesperia native, Reyes’ fourth on the bounce, following knockout losses to former titleholders, Jiri Prochazka, and Jan Blachowicz, and a dubious decision defeat to current heavyweight kingpin, Jon Jones in a 2020 title fight.
Dominick Reyes reveals life-threatening ailment
However, forced from a March return at an Atlantic City event against surging City Kickboxing staple, Ulberg, Reyes revealed that he is “lucky to be alive” as he deals with blood clots – ruling him from a return anytime soon.
“God puts us through some trials, and I’m having another hard go right now,” Dominick Reyes told James Lynch during a recent interview. “Me and Carlos (Ulberg) were slated to fight January 20th. 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.”
“I’m lucky to be alive right now, that’s always nice,” Dominick Reyes explained. “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.”
Without a victory since 2019, Reyes’ most recent win came in the form of a first round knockout win over former middleweight champion, Chris Weidman in a UFC Fight Night Boston main event clash.
Who do you want to see Dominick Reyes fight in his UFC return?