UFC middleweight Alexander Hernandez told media scrum about a shocking daytime incident. Hernandez’s teammate and former UFC flyweight title contender Brandon Royval pursued and caught a gunman! This was right after he shot someone near the UFC stars’ host hotel. During the UFC 307 pay-per-view post-fight presser, UFC boss Dana White has quite a reaction to it all.
Hernandez faced Austin Hubbard at UFC 307. He entered the bout, having lost two in a row. Alexander Hernandez’s last octagon appearance was at UFC Vegas 90. He and Brandon Royval chased down the alleged gunman en route back to their hotel from breakfast. During the UFC 307 post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White learned about it all.
Our guys caught the shooter? …Holy sh*t! It’s weird — how much this happens to our guys…
Dana White during UFC 307 post-fight conference interviews
Dana White was gobsmacked at the idea of Brandon Royval chasing the gunman. The MMA journo clarified that Royval didn’t catch the shooter but followed him and helped police arrest him. But the head honcho quickly touched on how such exploits aren’t secluded. Cain Velasquez and his tall tales are one. Ramon Taveras was once in the smacking middle of a Florida shootout.
Alexander Hernandez says today they saw someone get shot and then his cornerman ran after the shooter #UFC307
— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) October 6, 2024
— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) October 6, 2024
Then there’s also the gun-toting 185lbs ‘Tarzan’ Sean Strickland, who just claims to love violence. Per the boss, it’s a weird testosterone-ey macho thing that combat sports fighters always find themselves in the middle of a firearm altercation or insert themselves. However, Royval wasn’t hurt. UFC 307 star Alexander Hernandez gave a total scoop on it earlier.
Alexander Hernandez describes witnessing frightening gun violence on the morning of UFC 307
Alexander Hernandez recently opened up about being a witness to a horrific shooting incident in the lead-up to UFC 307. Hernandez revealed that his teammate chased the person as they headed back to the morning’s fight prepping.
Hernandez snagged a split decision win over Hubbard at UFC 307 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. After the win, the UFC lightweight star was beaming all about it. More than just the win, about the fact that “Sherlock Holmes” friend Brandon Royval went after the alleged shooter. The fighter told the assembled scrum about his antics.
Walking home back to the hotel, we turn this corner and we hear like five shots rattle off and Brandon [Royval] loves to yell gunshots, I’m like, it could be fu*king anything…we stopped, about to order the lift and these guys come panting like running past us…turns out that was the guy with the gun…He’s [Royval] fu*king on the prow like Sherlock Holmes and he’s chasing after him.
Alexander Hernandez during UFC 307 post-fight conference interviews
Alexander Hernandez shares a crazy #UFC307 fight day story involving a shooting in Salt Lake City. 😳 pic.twitter.com/65neWF768M
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 6, 2024
According to Fox 13, authorities took the suspect, Farshad Hassan-Pouri, into custody after shooting a 30-year-old man outside the Maverik building. However, none of the fighters or anyone else reportedly came under harm. The violence outside did not seemingly affect the organized violence inside. The combat sports world oyster is pretty much like a real GTA after all.
Royval finds himself with his next assignment vs. Tatsuro Taira a week after UFC 307. He is fresh off a fight night loss against Brandon Moreno and would look to rebound from that. Meanwhile, Hernandez will aim to gather more momentum after rebounding from a two-fight losing streak.
