Ricardo Lamas won his first fight in over year against Darren Elkins on Saturday, snapping his two-fight losing streak.
However, he discovered he had formed a blood clot in his left calf muscle on the flight over to Argentina to compete at the UFC’s first event in the country.
“The Bully” took to Instagram to say he initially thought he may have pulled the muscle, but the pain worsened in the lead-up to his dominant victory. No wonder.
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“My first day Argentina I noticed that my left calf muscle felt tight and sore to the touch,” Lamas wrote.
“I thought maybe it was a small muscle pull or something of that nature, but as the week went on it worsened. The day of the fight I had someone work on it to try and get the muscle to release and it was extremely painful.
“After getting it checked out by the doctors and having an ultrasound done on the muscle, it turns out I formed a blood clot in my calf muscle during the flight to Argentina from being seated in a tight area for so long.”
Blood clots are particularly dangerous when they form in your legs. The most common cause of a pulmonary embolism is when part or all of a blood clot in the leg dislodges and travels up to your lungs, causing a blockage of an artery. This can lead to death.
So blood clots are dangerous as it is, let alone having an MMA fight with one lurking without you realising. Lamas is rightfully grateful for avoiding such issues.
“Things could’ve ended badly if the clot became dislodged during the fight,” Lamas stated. “So I guess I also have to thank whoever was watching over me during the fight.”
