UFC fighters commonly enter the Octagon compromised. That was very much true for some of the biggest stars competing at UFC 307. Headliners Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr, and women’s bantamweight contender Kayla Harrison had health complications before Saturday’s pay-per-view.
Pereira successfully defended his UFC light heavyweight title against a game Rountree. The challenger suffered several gruesome cuts during the fight, including re-opening a graphic nose laceration from three weeks ago, but the champ was also banged up. Pereira revealed post-fight that he was dealing with recurring rib and toe injuries, plus a fever.
“When I was in Brazil I hurt my rib,” Pereira said through an interpreter during Saturday’s UFC 307 post-fight press conference. “It was an injury that I had about a year ago and it came back, so that was also something that I was dealing with. Then when I came here, my throat was still bad. I went to the doctor, and had another round of antibiotics.
“The ligament in my toe that was hurt from UFC 300, that came back. There are a lot of things that I went through in this camp. It was a tough fight, but it was a tough lead-up to this fight, and I actually feel really proud of…
