Wanderlei broke three ribs, needs knee surgery
“I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt…
“I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt pain in my knee while I was training wrestling. I had an MRI of my knee and three doctors told me my knee was torn. I took medicine to help with the pain, and although my knee felt loose, I said “no,” this date is very important to me and I continued training.”
I tried training more upper body and boxing; I kept losing weight and I was gonna fight no matter what. Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs.”
After years of fighting, my body made me stop this time. I am here to tell you that I cannot fight on this card. Now, I know that I need to have surgery on my knee. I have no option.”
I know my God is with me and He is going to bless me one more time. I am praying a lot and I know that God is going to bless the surgeon. I am going to be 100% and will fight many more years.
My fans know that my life was tough since the beginning. I want to ask for your strength and support one more time. This is a very, very, very hard moment for me. This is my livelihood, my job and I already put in a lot of time and effort into this fight.”
You cannot imagine how much I wanted to fight on this card. It was my birthday, I had friends and family from Brazil and around the world coming to see me and now I cannot fight. I am not the kind of fighter who fights just for the money and I will prove to you now – I could have entered the Octagon, received one punch, and said “that’s it, I have broken ribs.” But I fight to give you a big show. When I fight I always give 100% and I fight to show everybody real MMA and to help the sport grow and to excite my fans.
I apologize to my opponent. I have had opponents cancel fights. I hope they find you another opponent. I hope that I can fight with you in the future. You are an amazing fighter.”
I apologize to all my fans. I ask for your prayers for a successful surgery and healthy body. I will be back in shape to fight again and to give you more excitement. A big hug for all of you and be with God.”
