Shara Bullet has revealed he contracted dengue fever during a training camp in Thailand ahead of his fight with Barrio, spending two weeks bedridden with a 40-degree temperature, skin sores, and hair loss. He flew to Abu Dhabi in weakened condition and still managed to win the fight. Bullet then disclosed that he went without sleep for two days following the contest and underwent surgery immediately after, spending four hours on the operating table before spending a further two weeks unable to breathe properly.
Shara "Bullet" Magomedov has revealed the extraordinary physical ordeal he endured around his fight with Roman Barrio, disclosing that he competed while suffering from dengue fever and underwent surgery immediately after the bout.
Magomedov said he contracted the illness during a training camp in Thailand, spending two weeks bedridden with a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. The fever came accompanied by skin sores and hair loss, leaving him in a severely weakened state. Despite the condition, he boarded a flight to Abu Dhabi and stepped into the cage against Barrio.
The Russian middleweight went on to win the contest, but the story did not end there. After the fight, Magomedov disclosed that he went without sleep for two full days before undergoing a surgical procedure that kept him on the operating table for four hours. He then spent a further two weeks unable to breathe properly as he recovered.
Why it matters
- The disclosure adds significant context to the performance, raising questions about how the illness may have affected his condition leading into the fight.
- Magomedov's willingness to compete through a serious infectious disease and proceed directly to surgery underscores the physical demands placed on fighters outside of the cage itself.
- The account may draw attention to how camps manage fighter health during overseas training blocks, particularly in tropical regions where dengue is prevalent.
The full extent of the illness and the nature of the surgical procedure were shared by Magomedov himself in a recent interview, making this one of the more striking behind-the-scenes accounts to emerge from a fighter in recent memory.
