Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes reveals the extent of his recent medical scare ahead of his return at UFC Louisville.

It’s hard to be an MMA fan and not be a keen supporter of Dominick Reyes, with the American having surged into light heavyweight title contention before giving Jon Jones arguably his toughest test to date in the octagon.

Yet that clash with ‘Bones’ was a long, long time ago, and Reyes has faced countless battles since; including a recent medical scare that left ‘The Devastator’ worried that he might never wake up, let alone compete, ever again.

Dominick Reyes returns to UFC action this weekend in Kentucky

Fan favorite light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes returns to action this weekend in the co-main event of UFC Louisville, where he will face fellow 205lb veteran Dustin Jacoby.

Jacoby is set to make his first appearance of 2024 in Kentucky on Saturday evening, having suffered a unanimous decision loss to Alonzo Menifield in December of last year.

Meanwhile, Reyes hasn’t tasted victory in the UFC octagon since dispatching Chris Weidman all the way back in 2019; having lost four consecutive bouts, the last three of which have all been via finish.

Dominick Reyes opens up on health scare ahead of UFC Louisville

Speaking via the Full Send MMA YouTube channel, Dominick Reyes said that “it’s been a hell of a journey” to get back to UFC action as he noted, “Having blood clots is no joke but with God’s grace I got through it.”

Reyes recently suffered from an extremely serious case of thrombosis, in which four separate blood clots formed in his circulatory system and became lodged in the veins of his legs.

Terrifyingly, not only were the blood clots so severe that Reyes was unable to walk for over a month, but his doctor even told him that there was a chance that he could very well pass away from the condition.

“After I got the diagnosis, it was like ‘You’re day to day for four weeks’… I was like ‘What does that mean?’… He’s like ‘You’re day to day, if you wake up then you’re good, if not then you’re not good.’

“I’m like ‘Okay so you’re just going to be nonchalant about it?’ and he’s like ‘Yeah, it’s pretty serious man’.

“It wasn’t about fighting, fighting wasn’t even – obviously I love fighting, it’s a huge part of my life and it’s how I make a living, big part of my identity – but I was just happy to wake up every day,” said the former light heavyweight title challenger.

“[He told me] Don’t push it, this isn’t something that you can push. It’s just going to damage all the capillaries and you’re not going to be able to use your legs… For a month, I could only stand for maybe a minute at most before I got excruciating pain in my legs – some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”

According to Reyes, after the condition was rectified through the use of blood thinners, his doctor was stunned to see how quickly recovered.

‘The Devastator’ couldn’t help but smile as he explained: “After I got cleared, he’s like ‘Dude, there’s no sign of blood clots at all [now] – I’ve never seen that, you’re like Wolverine or something.’

“I just take that as God’s timing and he has a plan for me, I was ready to fight but God had different plans for me.”

With Reyes back to full health, he’s now looking ahead to his UFC return this weekend in Kentucky, although he’ll be walking to the arena with far more than title aspirations on his mind.

“Gratitude is everything, I’m just grateful to be here, grateful to wake up and be able to train and still fight in the UFC, do what I love and compete at the highest level.”

Dominick Reyes vs Dustin Jacoby is the co-main event of UFC Louisville, scheduled to go down on June 8 live from the KFC Yum! Center in Kentucky.