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Perez reveals seizure led to mid-event fight cancelation at UFC San Antonio

Alex Perez during ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC San Antonio.
Alex Perez during ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC San Antonio. | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

Speedy recovery to Perez after a medical issue led to his withdrawal from UFC San Antonio. 

Alex Perez has revealed the ‘medical issue’ that led to his fight against Manel Kape at UFC San Antonio getting cancelled.

This past Saturday, Perez released a statement revealing that he had a seizure as he was preparing for his fight against Kape, which was scheduled for the preliminary portion of UFC San Antonio.

“First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for all the support and concerns,” tweeted Perez. “I was doing my pre-fight warm-up and had a seizure. I immediately received medical attention. My hydration, electrolytes, etc were all more than adequate. This has nothing to do with weight cut. It was one of the easiest cuts of my career.

“I will be undergoing further testing in the upcoming weeks to determine the cause. I would appreciate privacy. My apologizes to my opponent and fans. Thank you to the UFC medical team for their help and support.”

In the past two years, Perez has had 11 fight cancellations. The Team Oyama product fought once during that time, coming up short against Alexandre Pantoja via first-round submission at UFC 277 this past July.

Prior to those cancellations, Perez was on a three-fight win streak that led to his first championship opportunity against then-champ Deiveson Figueiredo. At UFC 250, ‘Deus da Guerra’ earned his first successful defense with a first-round arm-in guillotine choke of Perez.

Despite having more information on what happened with Perez, his opponent Kape was still upset with the fight cancellation. Once again, ‘Starboy’ slammed Perez, saying he was too ‘scared’ to show up against him.

“The cause was that you were scared, and when you are scared your whole body trembles and your reactions are rigid and you lose control of your body,” tweeted Kape. “You are not a man, because a man dies like a man.”

When Perez expects to return to the Octagon remains to be seen.


About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)


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