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Brazilian Alex Oliveira was bleeding badly from his forehead when he lost a Dec. 8 bout in Toronto to Iceland's Gunnar Nelson. But that might have been nothing compared to surviving a grenade attack in Rio de Janiero on Christmas Eve. (Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)

UFC Fighter Reportedly Injured in Grenade Attack

By Dave Kovaleski December 27, 2018 at 8:19am

UFC fighter Alex Oliveira was injured by an exploding grenade while back home in Brazil for the Christmas holiday.

Oliveira was celebrating with his family on Christmas Eve near Rio de Janiero when he went out to get some gas.

While driving to the gas station, he saw members of his family involved in an altercation, according to a report from Yahoo Sports.

When he got out of his car to see what was going on, one of the attackers threw a grenade toward him.

The grenade exploded and some of the shrapnel got lodged in his leg and foot, Yahoo Sports reported.

Alex Oliveira injured by grenade fragments in Christmas eve incident in Brazil (@guicruzzz) https://t.co/FZIIhKumPR pic.twitter.com/HvjXmItn1S

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 25, 2018

“One guy came up and pointed a gun at my nephew’s face, and that’s when people started pushing each other,” Oliveira told Brazilian TV station Rio Sul, reported Yahoo.

“They had machetes, knives, a grenade. They threw a grenade in my direction. Fragments flew to my leg and my foot,” Oliveira added.

Oliveira was taken to a local hospital to have the shrapnel removed.

Alex Oliveira’s first post since getting injured by a grenade. It’s like nothing ever happened. He’s definitely gonna fight within a month or two somehow. #ufc #mma pic.twitter.com/rNKFOTs7Dv

— FKA UFCFaceSwap (@mmarandom) December 26, 2018

“They opened my leg to take out the shrapnel, they got the point,” Oliveira told Rio Sul, according to a computer translation. “I’ve got my leg bandaged here with a bandage.”

His manager, Alex Davis, said Oliveira is OK, ESPN reported.

“Having a grenade explode near you but only getting a few shrapnel splinters is a lucky day!” Davis wrote in a Twitter post.

Are you a fan of Alex Oliveira?

Oliveira later reported the incident to the local police.

Oliveira, whose nickname is “Cowboy,” fights in the UFC’s welterweight division. He has a career record of 19-6-1 and is ranked No. 15.

He last last fought on Dec. 8 at UFC 231 in Toronto. He lost that fight to Gunnar Nelson in a stunning second-round submission that featured Oliveira bleeding profusely from Nelson’s attack.

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Dave Kovaleski

Contributor, Sports

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Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.

Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.

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Massachusetts

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Sports