After suffering the first loss of his MMA career at the hands of Chad Griggs, Strikeforce heavyweight Bobby Lashley (5-1) revealed that he went into the bout suffering from mononucleosis, according to MMAFighting.com.
“When I went to the hospital afterwards, they said I was really dehydrated. I went to hospital on Thursday before the fight because I wasn’t feeling very good. I was just sluggish and not feeling good, so I went to urgent care and got checked out. I thought I was going to be okay. We didn’t do any blood work, but they gave me an IV because they said I was a little dehydrated then and when I went in there and fought I didn’t have anything in me.”
Lashley also insisted that he plans to fight again soon, hopefully by November, according to MMAFighting.com, and he believes he would’ve finished Griggs fairly quickly.
As you might remember, following Lashley’s loss, there was speculation over whether Lashley would even continue MMA and questions over how a heavyweight that doesn’t have to go through a weight cut could have become dehydrated. At the time, I suggested that maybe people were jumping the gun, particularly when they didn’t have all of the facts about what happened medically to cause his dehydration.
I don’t pretend to know where Lashley’s MMA career will end up, and claiming an illness or injury after a loss is always tricky. If you don’t disclose everything that was happening, people will pile on and ridicule your performance. If you suggest you faltered due to a health problem, people will pile on and claim you are making excuses.
Lashley probably went to far in suggesting he would’ve beaten Griggs fairly quickly, and only Lashley knows how much his illness affected his performance. But when someone ends up in the hospital after a fight, it’s best to wait for the facts to come out before making assumptions.