Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos was performing well in the main event of Eagle FC 47 until an unfortunate injury caused an abrupt end to the contest.
Dos Santos entered the event aiming to snap a four-fight skid. Standing in his way was Yorgan De Castro, who was making the fight competitive before Dos Santos’ shoulder became dislocated just over a half-minute into the third round.
Dos Santos became audibly upset as the realization began to set in that the fight was over because of the injury. Despite his best efforts to pop the shoulder back into place on his own and hope to continue fighting, it did not happen and the fight was stopped. After things settled down, Dos Santos provided an update on his situation via social media.
“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,” Dos Santos said in a video posted to Instagram. “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 I worked for. 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 the contest, promoter Khabib Nurmagomedov said he would reach out to Bellator in an attempt to create a fight between the former UFC heavyweight champ and Fedor Emelianenko. Despite the injury loss, Nurmagomedov said he still wishes to create the bout, but there is no current timeframe of when the 38-year-old Dos Santos will be able to return to action.
