Thiago Santos drabbades av en skada i sitt vänstra knä i den första ronden i titelmatchen mot den lätta tungviktsmästaren Jon Jones vid helgens UFC 239. Santos team avslöjar dock nu att det högra knät inte var i bästa skick heller inför matchen.
Santos tränare ”Tata” Duarte berättade efter matchen att hans adept opererade sitt högra knä kort efter att han tackat ja till att möta Jones tidigare i år men att de hållit detta hemligt. Duarte hävdade att Santos besegrade Jan Blachowicz i februari med en uttänjd menisk.
Duarte hade följande att säga enligt MMA Fighting:
The camp started with a 45-day delay and Thiago only had two months to prepare for this fight, but still didn’t want to pull out,” Duarte said. “The doctor gave us a timeline but we had a problem later. Heather (Linden), physical therapist of the UFC, was the one who recovered his knee. She was at UFC 237 in Rio and kept working on his knee for six days straight and found out what the problem was and was able to fix it. That’s when he started his camp.
We told him, No, I won’t pull out.’ He didn’t want to. We did this camp in two months. It should have been at least three months, but we didn’t have that time.
Hade knockat Jones om det inte vore för skadan
Santos kommer att träffa en läkare idag för att komma fram till hur pass allvarlig hans vänstra knäskada är. Duarte hävdar att det antagligen rör sig om en ligamentskada. Han hoppas dock att det trots alt inte ska vara något allvarligt.
Tränaren säger också att han är stolt över vad Santos mäktade med i fem-ronders matchen som lutade genom delat domslut till Jones fördel.
If that knee hadn’t stopped him, Jon Jones would have gone down, no doubt. Our game plan was all set, ‘Marreta’ was seeing everything. And after he started hurting Jon Jones’ legs he began to lose mobility, it was too easy to put him out, man, but we counted on switching stances to get it done. He started the combinations but couldn’t continue.
(Jones) respected him because he was getting hit. That’s the truth. He started to feel pain and thought, ‘Man, this guy hits really hard. What am I going to do?’ He knows Thiago has knockout power. Deep in there, he knows who ‘Marreta’ was. He knew he would have to kill ‘Marreta’.
I think (Santos) comes out way bigger than he was before. When I was carrying him out of the Octagon, everybody there, Americans and Brazilians, were cheering on him and booing Jon Jones’ interview. I’m gonna be honest with you, that to me is worth more than the belt. To be applauded and recognised like that, to have people thinking he won.
Anser att domarna gav Jones fördel på grund av hemmaplan
Duarte anser att Santos gjorde tillräckligt för att förtjäna bältet denna helg torts att endast en domare gav segern till brassen:
It’s hard to take Jon Jones’ belt in Las Vegas. Jon Jones came out completely f***ed up. His legs are swollen, his abs, his face, his lips. Can’t give him the win. But we already knew that it would be really hard to win by points.
Tränaren tror dock inte att Santos kommer få en omedelbar rematch mot Jones utan att han kommer behöva möta minst en lätt-tungviktare till innan det blir tal om detta:
I think there’s no way that happens. I think Thiago will have to fight one more time and then they give him a rematch if the path is clear again. The UFC does what they want.
But I’ll say this: our goal was accomplished. He shocked the world. This guy’s life story, man, he comes out huge after this fight. He knows he’s a complete fighter, he knows he can do five rounds with anyone. He did five rounds with someone that people say is invincible, the best of all time, and did that on one knee. Imagine if he had both legs.
