Cain Velasquez wasn’t the only victim of Mexico City’s high altitude at UFC 188 on June 13. Lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez claims being 7,382 feet above sea level had a major impact on his performance against Eddie Alvarez, according to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting.
Melendez, who has years of experience competing in five-round bouts, doesn’t have a history of gassing out, but he was noticeably sluggish around the midway mark of the second round. Alvarez capitalized by securing crucial takedowns that ultimately led to his winning a split decision.
Melendez wishes he could have set up camp earlier in Mexico like Fabricio Werdum did for his bout against Velasquez. Refusing to take any chances of altitude ruining his title run, the Brazilian heavyweight contender arrived in Mexico a month early to prepare for the fight. The pre-planning and extra acclimation efforts obviously paid off for Werdum, who went on to defeat Velasquez and win the UFC title.
Despite arriving a couple of weeks early, Velasquez, who is widely considered one of the most conditioned athletes in MMA, stumbled around the cage in complete exhaustion after only one round of action.
During the UFC 188 post-fight press conference, he admitted he probably needed more time to acclimate to the altitude. When appearing on The MMA Hour, Melendez echoed those same feelings after his second consecutive loss, though he insisted an insufficient budget played a major role in his delayed arrival:
I wish I could have been there a month earlier. I wish I had a budget and pay that I could fly out all my training partners. Realistically, you can’t just get out there five, six weeks early. Maybe Fabricio did it. It would have been tough to fly all my partners, my coaches who actually have the business at the gym. It just didn’t make sense.
Melendez and Velasquez weren’t the only fighters on the UFC 188 fight card who cited a negative reaction to the altitude.
Andrew Todhunter stepped in as a late replacement for Hector Urbina against Albert Tumenov. However, he passed out two days prior to the weigh-ins while attempting to cut weight. The bout was canceled a day later. He blamed the high elevation for his body shutting down, per Raimondi.
According to his coach Trevor Wittman, Nate Marquardt had blood-pressure issues leading up to his middleweight bout with Kelvin Gastelum.
“It was probably the altitude,” he said, when also speaking with MMA Fighting.
Marquardt’s difficulties with the altitude in Mexico City speaks volumes to the conditions that fighters were competing in, since he constantly trains at high altitude in Denver.
Despite everything that happened, Melendez isn’t going to let one bad experience deter him from returning to Mexico, but he admits the UFC might have to sweeten the deal a bit for a second venture that high above sea level.
“It doesn’t mean I’m scared to go back there,” he said. “If the price was right, the stars were aligned, I would definitely go back.”
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com