Bethe Correia shared photos of the surgery that forced her to withdraw from her upcoming fight on January 16.
The return of former women’s bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia has been pushed back indefinitely after she recently underwent an emergency appendectomy.
On Tuesday afternoon, it was reported by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting that Correia would be forced to withdraw from her upcoming fight against Wu Yanan at UFC Fight Island 7 because she needed her appendix removed. Correia confirmed the news on Wednesday and shared photos and videos of the process of her surgery from beginning to end.
Warning: The photos and videos below are graphic. Please proceed with caution.
Correia accompanied the post with a caption describing the events that happened prior to her eventual hospitalization. She finished her comments by thanking UFC President Dana White and the rest of the promotion for what they have done for her during her tenure.
“God always knows what is best for us,” wrote Correia on the Instagram post. “I was training so hard for this fight, however in the middle of the night, I started to feel an unbearable pain. I was admitted to the hospital and I was diagnosed with appendicitis. The doctors advised me and my family that it was a severe case and that I would require an emergency surgery.
“I want to thank the UFC and Dana White for all the support over the years. My last dance and my retirement fight will have to be postponed for a little while. I cannot wait to put on amazing performance for you guys.”
The fight against Yanan was indeed supposed to serve as the final fight for Correia in her mixed martial arts career. In September of last year, Correia made her intentions clear about retiring after having 17 fights spanning from 2012 to 2020 because she believed she “left her mark” on the sport.
Correia most recently competed at UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till in July 2020 against Pannie Kianzad, who she lost a unanimous decision to. Her overall record currently stands at 11-5-1.