UFC featherweight Lucas Alexander is the latest fighter to complain about paint fumes in the locker room after UFC Saudi Arabia just last weekend.
"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."
Alexander (8-5) lost his bout against Bogdan Grad via TKO at UFC Saudi Arabia which definitely didn't make this any better. On top of that Alexander actually missed weight for the fight which he took full responsibility for.
"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."
Paint fumes are known to cause problems like dizziness, irritation, headaches and other symptoms for short-term exposure. Long-term exposure is quite worse. It may cause nerve damage, fatigue and loss of motor control (according to Healthline.com)
"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."
Clearly the fumes in the locker room affected Alexander. Even then he didn't take anything away from his opponent who scored an impressive TKO victory over him that night.
"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."
Other fighters who have complained about the paint fumes include Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Mike Davis and Shara Magomedov among others.
No official statement has been released by the UFC as of this post.