Junior dos Santos Says He Could Have Lost Leg Due to Bacterial Infection
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On Tuesday, former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Junior dos Santos was forced out of his main event fight against former Bellator MMA heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov at UFC Moscow after the Brazilian suffered a nasty bacterial infection in his leg.
The 35-year-old dos Santos talked to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports and revealed the extent
of the bacterial infection and the risks to his health if he were
to get kicked in the area.
“Actually, this whole thing was kind of a big surprise for me and actually. I don’t really know how I got this bacteria on my leg and how it was there,” Dos Santos said (via MMA Junkie). “This whole thing happened, but it started on Friday. Friday I was training. I was kicking the heavy bag, and everything was fine.
“On Saturday, I started to feel a little pain on my leg, and I treat it like I always do. I put some ice, and I took some anti-inflammatory. And, I thought everything will be fine. But on Sunday, it was getting worse and worse, and my leg was getting hotter and painful. Also it was getting very red, so I said ‘something is wrong here.’”
The former champ said his coach urged him to go to the hospital to get it checked and was quickly informed by doctors how serious it could have gotten by fighting with the infection:
“I thought I would heal in the right time, and I would be able to go to the fight, but they said ‘no, you’re crazy,’” Dos Santos said. “Because even if you go, even if you get better, you’re going to Russia, to like another far away … if anything happens, you have nobody there to take care of you, and if you get hit on top of this thing, you can lose your leg at the minimum.”
The UFC immediately announced that the Brazilian would be replaced on the card with controversial heavyweight Greg Hardy, who is coming off a no-contest fight against Aussie Ben Sosoli at UFC Boston after the former pro-footballer used his inhaler between the second and third rounds.
On Tuesday, former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Junior dos Santos was forced out of his main event fight against former Bellator MMA heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov at UFC Moscow after the Brazilian suffered a nasty bacterial infection in his leg.
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“Actually, this whole thing was kind of a big surprise for me and actually. I don’t really know how I got this bacteria on my leg and how it was there,” Dos Santos said (via MMA Junkie). “This whole thing happened, but it started on Friday. Friday I was training. I was kicking the heavy bag, and everything was fine.
“On Saturday, I started to feel a little pain on my leg, and I treat it like I always do. I put some ice, and I took some anti-inflammatory. And, I thought everything will be fine. But on Sunday, it was getting worse and worse, and my leg was getting hotter and painful. Also it was getting very red, so I said ‘something is wrong here.’”
The former champ said his coach urged him to go to the hospital to get it checked and was quickly informed by doctors how serious it could have gotten by fighting with the infection:
“I thought I would heal in the right time, and I would be able to go to the fight, but they said ‘no, you’re crazy,’” Dos Santos said. “Because even if you go, even if you get better, you’re going to Russia, to like another far away … if anything happens, you have nobody there to take care of you, and if you get hit on top of this thing, you can lose your leg at the minimum.”
The UFC immediately announced that the Brazilian would be replaced on the card with controversial heavyweight Greg Hardy, who is coming off a no-contest fight against Aussie Ben Sosoli at UFC Boston after the former pro-footballer used his inhaler between the second and third rounds.
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