Renan Barao defended the interim title in February against Michael McDonald (Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)
Out of UFC 161 due to a foot ligament injury, the interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao he was sad about the situation. He was preparing to step into the Octagon on June 15 in Winnipeg, Canada, but is now focused on recovery. Despite the sadness, the native of Rio Grande do Norte said he wants to repay the kind words he has received since his injury was announced.
“I was really sad even when I got injured and even more so after the UFC confirmed that I was out of the fight. I know it was the right thing to do, there was nothing that could be done, but we always get upset when an injury disrupts our plans. Now, the words that people sent on Twitter and Facebook, wishing me strength and so on, made me feel much better, made me very happy, full of energy to come back in style. I will definitely come back better to repay all this affection.”
Barão was injured during training in the final part of the preparation at Nova União, in Rio de Janeiro. The native of Rio Grande do Norte said he didn't even feel that much pain at the time, but noticed that his ankle had swollen a lot. The injury made his movements impossible and took him out of his preparation routine. “Really, I see that I wasn't in any condition to fight, because I'm having to not train for several days and with the high level of the competition, I couldn't perform without being 100%. It would be giving too much chance to bad luck”, said the interim champion.
With the main fight of UFC 161 changed to a confrontation between Rashad evans e Dan Henderson, Barão still intends to face Wineland in the future. “I hope that my fight against Eddie Wineland be rescheduled. I see that the injury was not that bad and I should return to training in the next few days”, predicted the fighter, who is already in the recovery process with physiotherapy in Natal. “I am undergoing medical monitoring and strictly following what was recommended. It’s really bad to be without training, but I can’t force it now”, he added.
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