Lucas Alexander felt something was up when he got back to his corner in between rounds. His chest was heavy, and he was out of breath.
“I’m tired. This is not OK,” Alexander remembers saying. “Something is wrong with me.’” His coach responded, “‘You’re never tired. You never complain. You never feel this way.’”
The next time Alexander spoke with his cornermen, a TKO loss to Bogdan Grad was in the books.
During UFC Fight Night 250 fight week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Alexander (8-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) missed weight and lost his fight. That’s the bottom line. But with the series of events that occurred both before and after the fight, Alexander can’t help but wonder how much a mysterious fumes smell in the locker room played into his performance inside the cage.
“A loss is a loss, and the past can’t be changed,” Alexander recently told MMA Junkie. “I’m OK with it. What’s more frustrating is just because the situation. That was the last fight on my contract. To go out like that was something that made me very frustrated.”
According to Alexander, the locker room backstage in ANB Arena reeked like chemicals – a claim echoed by various fighters including Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Mike Davis and Terrance McKinney.
“When we got there, it was super strong because there was not air circulation,” Alexander said. “There was only one door for the full room. They literally put an air purifier instead of air conditioning. So there was not a central air conditioner. It was almost like a fan and a purifier. That’s not enough to circulate air in that room after you paint.”
Making the situation worse …
For his whole life, Alexander has struggled with rhinitis and sinusitis. Living in Florida has made it worse, and not being able to use his medication in the final days prior to fights may have escalated his vulnerability – and led to his post-fight hospital trip.
“I could not breathe (when I got backstage),” Alexander said. “It was super strange because they check my vitals. They check my blood pressure, and everything was normal. It was already 10 to 15 minutes after the fight, and I cannot breathe. They put me in the same room with a hospital bed. I’m laying there, and there are like five or six people. There was my corner. They lock the door. I’m like, ‘Can you please open the door? I can’t breathe.’ That’s not good.”
With medical professionals’ assistance, Alexander eventually got symptoms under control. However, when he woke up the next morning, they were back. Another trip to the hospital resulted in an inhaler prescription, which helped him travel back home a little more comfortably.
“I love the UFC,” Alexander said. “My dream is coming true fighting for the UFC. But the expectation of those types of those situations, I never thought in my head. I always visualized and always heard how UFC take care and do everything perfect. It’s a human company, so I know they are going to commit some mistakes here and there. I’m not going to crucify them. But that definitely effected not just me. There are people that won the fight. They said the same thing.”
UFC redemption?
Alexander said he hasn’t spoken to the UFC about the fume situation or where he stands, but he fully accepts responsibility for his shortcomings. He hopes, in a similar vein, the promotion also realizes the circumstances were not ideal.
“I talked to my manager, who hadn’t heard anything,” Alexander said. “I don’t think nobody else heard anything. I don’t think they care, to be honest. Jair (Rozenstruik) got cut, and Jair had not a great performance. … If we fail, like I failed with my weight, and I have to be penalized for that, and then they fail. That’s not skills. That’s not, ‘Oh maybe if you made weight you wouldn’t be tired.’ Nah. Any fighter on the planet should not be in this type of situation. That’s point-blank period. It starts right there.
“In my opinion, if you do something wrong, you take accountability for it, you fix it, and then move forward. But blaming other people for your own mistake, I think it’s a poor way to be professional. Like I said, to me, it’s in the past. It can’t be changed. Hopefully, I have another opportunity.”
Alexander, 29, plans to remain in the same division despite the consecutive weight misses after testing and speaking with his nutritionist. Maybe lightweight will happen down the road, but his return will be at featherweight – whether that’s in the UFC or elsewhere.
“I’m young. I’m 29,” Alexander said. “I know I’ve got the skills to fight in the UFC. I’m good at what I do. I feel OK if I have to go back to regionals and build myself again. It doesn’t matter if I go back to UFC or another organization. Right now… I don’t know what UFC wants from me. I don’t know if they want to give me another opportunity. I’m waiting to see. But hopefully I can find out in the next couple weeks so I can continue to move. Because last year was a full year of just training to get better.
“This year, my plan is to show how much I actually got better. At least I got to show for at least five minutes improvement of my game and not just striking but also grappling and wrestling. I know this year is going to be a good year for me. It can be with the UFC or without the UFC. Now, I’m just waiting to see what’s going to be next. ”
This news first appeared on MMA Junkie. Read the original article here
