Paulão has a record of 23 wins, six losses and three draws in MMA. Photo: Disclosure
Former PRIDE star and former champion of the now-defunct WEC event, Paul Philo He is still recovering from the shot he was shot during a disturbance at a party last week in Rio de Janeiro. Despite not remembering what happened clearly, the fighter stated that he almost died from the bullet that hit his leg.
Paulão explained that, according to his doctors, the shot narrowly missed an important location. “He shot the ground first and then hit my thigh. I fell to the ground and lost a lot of blood. The bullet was just a few centimeters from the femoral artery. If I had gotten it right, I would have died. It was an open fracture in my femur, so you can imagine how bad it was”, reported the fighter, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Fighting”.
BUT: Paulão Filho gets involved in confusion at a party and is shot
Due to the trauma of the episode, the 36-year-old athlete has few memories of what happened – however, he refuted the version of some witnesses. “I never saw who shot me. If he stood in front of me now, I wouldn't know. I argued with a guy, but we never fought. I am a professional athlete. They said I hit three security guards, but I don't have a single scratch on my face. Not even Fedor [Emelianenko] in his prime could hit three men without getting hit at least once. I’m a peace guy”, he commented.
Paulão will undergo a second surgery to repair the area damaged by the gunshot. “They will insert a metal rod into my femur, just like they did with Anderson Silva. It was an open fracture, so they kept me on antibiotics for a week before they performed another surgery,” she detailed.
With his fight trajectory recently hampered by several personal problems, Paulão stated that the episode makes it even more difficult for him to resume his career. “He put my career at risk. I already had my problems and now it's even more difficult. I was trying to come back, but now it's over. It's going to be even harder to go back, since I'm getting older. I still don't know if I'll fight again or not. I’ll think about it when this nightmare is over,” he concluded.
Paulão had an impressive start to his MMA career, remaining undefeated for over seven years. This included eight wins in PRIDE, where he remained undefeated. He later won the WEC middleweight title, but ended up suffering his first defeat against Chael SonnenIn 2008.
After that, Paulão's career went downhill: surrounded by personal problems, including a difficult struggle with depression, the athlete alternated victories and defeats, and in his last 11 fights, he suffered five defeats and three draws.
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