The former UFC heavyweight champion is doing well after his Eagle FC debut came to an unfortunate end.
Junior dos Santos is fine after suffering an injury in his fight against Yorgan De Castro at Eagle FC 47 this past Friday.
Dos Santos hoped to begin his post-UFC career with a win, and the former UFC heavyweight champion was on his way to doing that before the shoulder injury happened. He threw a punch in the third round and dislocated his shoulder, which ultimately led to the fight ending. De Castro was declared the winner via third-round technical knockout.
The ending was unfortunate for Dos Santos, who has not won a fight since his second-round technical knockout of Derrick Lewis at UFC on ESPN+ 4 over three years ago. Despite being on a career-worst five-fight losing streak, ‘Cigano’ said he felt better than ever in a video shared on social media. The 38-year-old also provided an update on his condition and reflected on his overall performance.
“Hey guys, I’m home already,” said Dos Santos on Instagram. “I took my shower, I had my dinner, I’m ready to get some rest now. My shoulder is back into place. In this position like this, I’m not feeling any pain. I already talked to my doctor, we’re gonna do some exams and figure out what’s gonna be the procedures to get this thing better as soon as possible. But before going to battle I’d like to share with you guys that I was feeling so happy. I was feeling very good during the fight, like I haven’t felt in a long, long time.
“It was good because I was able to deliver everything that I worked for,” continued Dos Santos. “The hard work we put in the gym, I was able to bring inside the octagon on the day of the fight and things were working good for us until we had this injury.”
Had Dos Santos won against De Castro, Eagle FC president Khabib Nurmagomedov planned for a potential cross-promotional fight between him and Fedor Emelianenko, who is under contract with Bellator now. That plan has not changed, as Nurmagomedov said during his post-fight interview that it is ‘still viable’ and aimed to have it scheduled (pending an upcoming meeting with Bellator president Scott Coker) by the end of the year. Emelianenko has one more fight left on his contract with Bellator before retiring from mixed martial arts.
There is no word yet on when Dos Santos expects to return to competition.