Junior Dos Santos Ready For UFC Title Run After ‘Extremely Serious’ Leg Infection

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos is a lucky man to still be fighting. The 35-year-old headlines UFC Raleigh against Curtis Blaydes on Jan 25, just 14 weeks after being hospitalized with a serious leg infection. The infection was so serious it could of ended his career or even killed him. Speaking to MMA Fighting he explained.

“It was extremely serious. “I spent a week in the hospital thinking that I would get cleared and fight (Volkov), but the doctor came to me and said, ‘You don’t understand how serious this is.’ He said I was lucky to be a healthy man and that I went to the hospital soon enough, otherwise I could have gone straight to ICU.”

The doctors had informed Dos Santos that he came in at the perfect time otherwise he wouldn’t have had such a positive outcome. “I could have lost my leg or even died” he said.

“That’s when I truly understood how serious the situation was. The first thing that came to my head were my kids and my family, how fragile we are. I was feeling great, strong, happy, training for a fight… Everything going right, and all of a sudden this happens. It was a huge blow.

“I saw a movie in my head of everything I had dodged. It’s hard to explain how fragile we are. I take good care of myself and that helped me in this case to not only support this disease but also have a good and fast recovery.”

Now back to full health he says preparing for yet another UFC main event has been like “a shot of adrenaline,” although he has had to avoid kicking for some time during fight camp.

”Cigano’ snapped his three-fight win streak last June when he fought heavy hitter Francis Ngannou. He’ll be hoping to get back in the win column against Curtis Blaydes, who is in good form himself. After also suffering defeat at the hands of Ngannou, Blaydes has been rebuilding. The American wrestler has picked up wins over Justin Willis and Shamil Abdurakhimov, he’ll be hoping to make it three in a row against Dos Santos. Speaking about the fight the Brazilian says he’s willing to fight anyone because the end goal is to regain the heavyweight crown.

“I don’t choose opponents and never will,” dos Santos said. “I’m here to fight the best because I truly believe I can regain this belt and I will regain this belt. It’s a matter of time and hard work. This division is very dangerous. There’s a lot of hard work to be done, and I’m ready to work.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)