It was an awful time for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters who competed this past weekend (Sat., Feb. 1, 2025) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
That’s because several UFC fighters, including Jairinho Rozenstuik, Shara Magomedov and Mike Davis, have complained about the newly-painted locker rooms inside anb Arena, which contain toxic paint fumes.
UFC Saudi Arabia “Prelims” fighter, Lucas Alexander — who got stopped by Bogdan Grad in the second fight of the evening (watch highlights) — is the latest athlete to complain about huffing fumes, revealing that he was hospitalized at the conclusion of his Featherweight bout.
What’s up guys! I just want to say thank you for all the love and support I received after my fight. Before I go into detail about what happened, I just want to say I’ve never been that person who looks for excuses when I commit a mistake. With that being said I want to first address my weight cut. I apologize for being unprofessional and not showing up on the scale like I should have. I made some adjustments for this camp which led into my weight cut which I didn’t execute the proper way and I take full responsibility for that.
• I also don’t want to take anything away from my opponents victory. The situation is in the past and can’t be changed.
• On Saturday, we arrived at the locker rooms around 2:30pm and there was a really strong smell of paint fumes with seemingly no air circulation throughout the room. The ones close to me know I suffer with severe sinus issues when it comes to different smells and seasonal allergies. For 3 hours I felt dizzy, had low energy and felt like I could fall asleep any minute. By the time I was supposed to warm up, I could tell I was super flat. I did what I could regardless of the situation.
• After the fight I was taken to the hospital due to shortness of breath and over the next several hours couldn’t stop a runny nose, sneezing, couching and wheezing. I have videos from hours after the fight where my voice is gone, my nose is stuffed closed and I felt sick.
• After not sleeping the whole night, I went back to the hospital the next morning and received a breathing treatment with cortisol to open my lungs and sent home with an inhaler to use multiple times a day.
• Like I said before, I will take nothing from Grad and his team but I know for a fact I had a great camp and was very well prepared. It’s really disappointing to have my last fight on my contract go out like that knowing I was not 100% myself due to reasons out of my control. But this is not the end. I am picking up the pieces and will be back again. I’ve done it once before and I know I will do it again. Thank you to the real fans who’ve been rocking with me from the jump.
Terrance McKinney, who also competed on the card (see it here), shared his experience:
Along with explaining what happened, Alexander (8-5) shared video evidence of the arena employees working in the locker room, him speaking after the fight with a very raspy voice and shortness of breath, and a picture of him in a mask while in the hospital to help his distressed breathing.
Unfortunately for “The Lion,” he might be looking for a new job because he fought out his contract and is now 1-3 inside the Octagon.
UFC has yet to comment on the paint fumes fiasco that caused many of their fighters to feel “off” during their fights.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Saudi Arabia news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
