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Augusto Sakai says Alistair Overeem badly injured his ribs at UFC Vegas 9.
Heavyweight prospect Augusto Sakai suffered his first UFC loss by the hands of seasoned veteran Alistair Overeem. In the five-round fight, Overeem effectively used takedowns and vicious ground and pound to score a TKO win over the Brazilian at UFC Vegas 9.
Although Sakai was frustrated by the outcome and praises Overeem for the intelligent performance, he told Ag Fight he could not fight properly after the second round. That was because Augusto claims to have suffered four rib injuries after beating hit with a knee and taken down afterwards. Following that, the Brazilian said there was not much he could to defend himself.
“In the second round, I was hit with a knee that dislocated two of my ribs. When he took me down, he hit me with an elbow that broke two more. So I was without four ribs, so to speak. That got in the way a lot. I could not defend takedowns. I could not show my jiu-jitsu. I could not defend myself very well. Kudos to him.”
“I’m sure he used his experience in his favor, but I was expecting that.” Sakai continued. “What made things difficult for me, and I’m not trying to come up with an excuse here, was the pain in my ribs. Even then, I tried to endure it as much as I could.”
Before the loss, Augusto Sakai (15-2-1) was on a four-fight winning streak in the UFC, with victories over Chase Sherman, Andrei Arlovski, Marcin Tybura and Andrei Arlovski. The 29-year-old’s only other loss was a split decision defeat to Cheick Kongo, back in May 2017, at Bellator 179.