Rafael dos Anjos avoids knee surgery but nose repairs require operation
New UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos walked into his fight last Saturday night against Anthony Pettis with a laundry list of injuries and still managed to dominate the fight for five rounds to win the title at UFC 185.
Just after the fight was over, it was revealed that dos Anjos suffered a partially torn MCL (medial collateral ligament) in his knee about three weeks out from the card that forced him to forgo any kind of grappling or wrestling in fear that he might get hurt even worse and be forced to pull out of the fight.
According to dos Anjos' manager Ali Abdel-Aziz who spoke to UFC Tonight's Ariel Helwani, the Brazilian's knee was so bad he was actually pushing for the fighter to drop off the card, but ultimately he was overruled.
The good news is dos Anjos was able to visit a doctor following his title win on Saturday and he won't have to undergo any surgery to repair the damage to his knee. Instead, dos Anjos will do rehab while also allowing some scar tissue on his tendon to heal at the same time and he should be able to begin training for his next fight in about three months.
As it turns out, however, dos Anjos will still have to go under a doctor's knife in the coming days, but not because of his knee injury.
It seems dos Anjos was also suffering from a severe nose injury that happened during his training camp as well. His manager says the right side of his nose is completely shut and he's only getting about 70-percent opening on the left side.
The result is dos Anjos going in for surgery to repair the damage to allow him to breathe normally again.
Chances are dos Anjos would be out of action for a few months regardless of the injuries because his next opponent won't likely be determined until UFC 187 on May 23 when Khabib Nurmagomedov meets Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone. The winner of that fight is expected to face dos Anjos later this year, but probably not before the end of summer, which gives the new champion plenty of time to heal.
