Despite missing out on a return to the octagon, Dominick Reyes can consider himself lucky.

The former UFC title challenger revealed Thursday that a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis – blood clots in his leg – was the reason why he had to withdraw from his fight against Carlos Ulberg.

Reyes (12-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) and Ulberg (9-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) were originally booked for UFC 297 on Jan. 20, but Ulberg had to withdraw because of an injury. Then the UFC announced that they would meet on March 30, but Reyes also revealed that he had never signed a contract for that date, and it was just in talks.

Regardless, Reyes had to scrap the plans altogether due to the deep vein thrombosis.

“God puts us through some trials, and I’m having another hard go right now,” Reyes told Middle Easy. “Me and Carlos were slated to fight January 20th. He pulled out, I don’t know why. It’s an injury, obviously, but he’s not going to say what his injury is. And then a week later, I ended up getting blood clots. Deep vein thrombosis. So yeah, I’m out for a minute.”

Reyes is currently on blood thinners and is expected to be out for a minimum of three months. He currently can’t do any heavy exercise.

Reyes, who hasn’t fought since November 2022, is disappointed to get his UFC return delayed, but all in all he’s fortunate things didn’t escalate.

“I’m lucky to be alive right now, that’s always nice,” Reyes said. “We caught it early, so it didn’t become a pulmonary embolism, and thank God for that. Which is kind of crazy because I got a massage. My leg was hurting, and I thought I pulled a muscle in my calf, so I got a massage, and that’s the worst thing you can ever do. I’m lucky I didn’t die on that massage table right there.”

Reyes, 33, was looking to snap his losing skid. Since pushing Jon Jones to the brink in their title fight at UFC 247 in February 2020, Reyes has struggled, losing four straight – including stoppage losses to Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann in November 2022.