Then Titan FC bantamweight champion Rudson Caliocane was given a waiver by the promotion to fight Matheus Mendonca at Future MMA on October 19, 2019, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He lost a decision and suffered a brain hemorrhage. The fighter attributes the injury to an extreme weight cut – losing some 13.4 pounds in a bathtub.

I noticed he didn’t look normal, said Caliocane’s manager, Alex Davis, to the Portuguese language Combate, as translated by Lucas Rezende for BE. When the fight ended, it got worse and Rudson’s father carried him until the paramedics arrived. Those of us who are experience in MMA knew it had nothing to do with the fight specifically, but with the sudden weight cut. At the hospital, the doctors confirmed the ischemia was due to the cut. It wasn’t a guillotine or a powerful strike, it was the dehydration.

Calioncane vacated his Titan belt in order to focus on his medical issues, which included partial paralysis. Titan FC in conjunction with Rudson’s long-time manager, Alex Davis launched a GoFundMe campaign and the promotion donated a percentage of ticket sales from a December 20 event to raise funds to cover the substantial costs associated with his recovery.

Nearly a year later, Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting caught up with Caliocane, who had been told his career was over.

It’s going to be a miracle if you can walk again, said a doctor. It’s already a miracle you’re alive. … You’ll never be able to fight again.”

However, Rudson Caliocane plans to fight in 2021.

I got mad when they said that, recalled Caliocane. Five doctors condemned me. I would get off bed, lift my leg — that I wasn’t even feeling — and try to walk, but fall on the floor. My father came to help me and I said, ‘Get your hands off me.’ It was a pretty rough moment. S****ng my pants, having my farther shower me, my mother feed me. I went to a restaurant a week later to have some barbecue and couldn’t hold a fork. My friend had to cut the meat and give it to me.

I spent days like that. I would only do things with left hands, like brush my teeth and stuff like that, and [my mother] would say, ‘Eat with your right hand, stimulate your right hand.’ It was rough, but thank god it’s over. I was happy with every little victory I had. I was able to run, to do jumping jacks, to jump rope. I was stimulating that side of my body because I know that… it’s like a plant, if you water it it will flourish. That’s how I imagined my body.

The funds organized by Titan FC helped with medical expenses, and Rudson is teaching private lessons, but his main focus is on training, so he can resume his career.

I don’t think it will ever be 100 percent again,” he said. “I feel it when I’m playing guitar or the keyboard, things that are more delicate, and I still struggle depending on the situation. Sometimes my finger touches a key that isn’t supposed to, or I can’t play as fast as I could before. But I improvise. I don’t think it will get back to what it was before, but it’s not like I can’t give my best.

My legs are almost equal. But I still feel the difference in my upper body. I was working on the bench press the other day, and it would start to fail after I lifted six or seven times. My right side has no resistance, it’s like you turned the circuit breaker off and it simply stopped out of the blue. I keep pushing with the left, but the right one kind of fails, gets soft. It’s crazy. I can’t really explain. I feel no pain, I don’t feel anything, it simply shuts off.

Caliocane is now around 156 and will no longer be fighting at 135. He hopes to fight in the USA in January, and Titan FC COO Lex McMahon has promised him a title shot once he’s medically cleared to fight.

That makes me really happy, but I have to ask it to be at 145, because I can’t make 135 again, said Caliocane. I can’t do sauna, bathtub, dehydrate, or any of that. I can’t anymore. The doctor said I’m 50 percent more likely to have another stroke if I do it. I was already planning on moving up to 145, but my idea was to lose the last four pounds in the sauna, but my endocrinologist said I can’t. No way, so it’s only with a diet then.

I’ll keep my weight low, 155 pounds, and cut down to 145 to fight. They are very big and very strong, but I’ll be faster. I’ll completely change my fighting style. I’ll be like [Demetrious Johnson] when he went to ONE.