We have lost a fight on UFC 287, our next UFC pay-per-view event.
On Thursday, UFC lightweight Nikolas Motta announced that he was forced to withdraw from his fight against Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 287 due to a gruesome cut he suffered in training.
“I had this accident couple days [ago] by a headbutt in wrestling practice and my coaches and people that I trust made the decision to ask to pull back my fight three weeks to have enough time to heal this or it would easily open in the fight and they would stop the fight by doctor stoppage,” wrote Motta. “I had a lot stitches all my career, but never had one deep like that. This white part on my cut in the second picture is my tendon, it got very swollen and inflamed.
“It felt unbelievable that something like that happened right before my fight, after thinking a lot I could see that was the right choice from my coach that I trust,” continued Motta. “I been focused and always in shape since after my fight in September last year and didn’t go home for the first time to see my family in the end of the year to stay ready to fight in December or beginning of the year and I been focused since then. So I just need [a] couple weeks to heal that 100 percent, trust the process and finally be back.”
In an Instagram post, ‘Iron’ shared photos of himself before and after he received stitches recently. Unfortunately, the gag-inducing photo of the cut was deleted. Fortunately, our quick-thinking friends over at MMA Mania came through for us with a screenshot.
Warning: Photo below is graphic. Please proceed with caution.
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Nikolas Motta has asked to have his fight with Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 287 pushed back a few weeks because he suffered a nasty cut from a headbutt. pic.twitter.com/UqhEyHx9Vx
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 24, 2023
There is no word yet on whether the UFC expects to reschedule Bahamondes vs. Motta or moves forward with finding the former a short-notice replacement.
Motta is 1-1 in his current UFC stint. After a series of fight cancelations, the Contender Series winner debuted against Jim Miller at UFC Vegas 48. He suffered a second-round TKO loss to the UFC Veteran, which snapped a three-fight win streak.
The Brazilian rebounded with a first-round TKO of Cameron VanCamp at UFC Vegas 60.
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