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Not one but two UFC 294 preliminary card winners confessed post-fight that they were suffering from active staph infections after fighting in Abu Dhabi. There is no athletic commission in Abu Dhabi and the UFC is acting in lieu of a commission.
UFC 294 prelims featured a women’s catchweight bout that merits some explanation
UFC 294 opened with the usual blend of preliminary bouts including a catchweight bout between Victoria Dudakova and Jinh Yu Frey that was originally booked as a women’s flyweight bout. Alas, Dudakova missed the non-title strawweight limit of 116 pounds by 0.6 pound.
After the bout, Dudakova explained that she had a staph infection on her butt “and places that isn’t necessarily OK to announce to the world.” She also said that the abscess burst after the fight and her “backside is all bloodied up.” She also says she passed out during her weight cut.
She admitted that she concealed her condition from fight officials and did not take antibiotics to treat the infection as that might have been detected by pre-fight drug tests. (there is not really an Athletic Commission as such in Abu Dhabi so the UFC is regulating the bouts themselves.)
Men’s catchweight fight also featured a weight-missing, staph-infected winner
The scheduled lightweight bout (155lbs) between Anshul Jubli and Mike Breeden also became a catchweight fight when Breeden, the eventual winner, missed weight by 3.5 pounds.
It was a tough, back-and-forth bout that saw Jubli likely ahead on the scorecards after dominating the first two rounds when Breeden poured it on in the final round and scored a KO at 3 minutes into the 34d round.
Post-fight the revelations continued as MMA Fighting’s Jose Youngs reported that, “Mike Breedan reveals he had staph before his fight. He joins Dudakova and Naimov as fighters who fell ill on fight week.”
UFC 294 Makhachev vs Volkanovski 2 quick results
Check out everything that went down at UFC 294: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 here!
Main card
- – Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski: Lightweight Title
- – Kamaru Usman vs. Khamzat Chimaev: Middleweight
- – Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker: Light Heavyweight
- – Ikram Aliskerov vs. Warlley Alves: Middleweight
- – Said Nurmagomedov vs. Muin Gafurov: Bantamweight
Prelims
- – Muhammad Mokaev vs. Tim Elliott: Flyweight
- – Mohammad Yahya vs. Trevor Peek: Lightweight
- – Javid Basharat vs. Victor Henry: Bantamweight
- – Sedriques Dumas def. Abu Azaitar by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Middleweight
- – Mike Breeden def. Anshul Jubli by KO at 3:00 of round 3: Lightweight
- – Muhammad Naimov def. Nathaniel Wood by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Featherweight
- – Victoria Dudakova def. Jinh Yu Frey by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Strawweight
- – Sharabutdin Magomedov def. Bruno Silva by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): Middleweight
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