Former UFC heavyweight champion will need surgery to recover from his injury suffered at Eagle FC 47.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will have to stay on the sidelines for a while following his last loss. In an unfortunate performance at Eagle 47, the Brazilian was winning the fight against fellow Octagon vet Yorgan de Castro, until ‘Cigano’ dislocated his shoulder early into the third round and lost by TKO due to injury.
Now, in an conversation with Ag Fight, Santos confirmed he will need to undergo surgery in order to properly heal from the injury.
According to Junior, the procedure is supposed to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sometime during next week. For now, the Brazilian does not know how long he will have to stay sidelined until he can resume training.
Furthermore, Cigano’s doctor will be Rickson Moraes, a surgeon specialized in dealing with fighting-related injuries.
Eagle FC promoter Khabib Nurmagomedov wants to put on Dos Santos vs Fedor Emelianenko, but it will have to rely on the timeline of his recovery. The former lightweight champion seemed optimistic he can still co-promote with Bellator and make it happen by the end of the year.
“I think definitely he needs surgery,” Khabib said. “I’m not a doctor, but I see a lot of injuries inside the gym like this with shoulders, with knees. I think after three or four months, he can come back to sparring, and at the end of the year we can make this fight.”
The defeat to De Castro put Santos (21-10) on a five-fight losing skid, with all losses coming by way of knockout or TKO. Before his last outing, Junior lost to Ciryl Gane, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou. The 38-year-old’s last victory dates back to a March 2019 TKO win over Derrick Lewis.