Jimi Manuwa Issues Statement On UFC Sao Paulo Withdrawal
Jimi Manuwa issues statement on making the decision to pull out of his fight at the upcoming UFC Sao Paulo event. It was revealed on Monday that Manuwa was forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Thiago Santos in a light heavyweight bout.
As a result, the UFC needed to find a short-notice replacement to serve as the opponent for Santos and to save this main event. Thus, they got Eryk Anders.
Manuwa is coming off of back-to-back losses to Jan Blachowicz and Volkan Oezdemir. Prior to those losses, he was on a two-fight win streak where he knocked out both of those opponents.
Manuwa Issues Statement
Manuwa took to his official Instagram account to issue the following statement on pulling out of this fight:
“I’m truly gutted,” Manuwa wrote. “The day after I landed in Brazil I went for my last hard training session. During that session of sprints I tore my hamstring. After getting it assessed in hospital, doctors diagnosed it as a severe tear greater than 50 percent. They told me it will be a minimum of six weeks recovery time.”
“I want to thank everyone of you for the love and support you have sent my way,” Manuwa wrote. “Without all of you none of this is possible. I can’t wait to come back and put on a show for you all. Lions eat first.”
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UFC Sao Paulo (also known as UFC Fight Night 137) is set to take place on Saturday, September 22, 2018 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.
The main card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 10:30 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will be split broadcasted on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 6:45 p.m. ET.
