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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The middleweight bout between Hector Lombard and Rousimar Palhares was dominated by Lombard, but there may have been a reason it was a mostly one-sided affair.
Palhares' camp has revealed that the 32-year-old Brazilian suffered a broken foot and ligament damage early on in the fight, and it affected his ability to combat Lombard before finally being taken out.
"During the fight, my kick was working well," said Palhares in a statement (via MMAJunkie.com). "But soon in the first round, one of my kicks hit Lombard's shin below his knee. I heard a snap, and I knew something bad happened."
"From that moment on, I [started] feeling my foot more and more numb and without strength to walk around the octagon. It was a very complicated situation. I went through something similar in the fight against Jeremy Horn when I broke my hand during the fight."
Palhares' trainer, Murilo Bustamante, said Palhares' foot is still very swollen, and they don't have a timetable for his return.
"What happened, happened," Bustamante stated. "He is a great athlete and will overcame to be back up. The entire team of the UFC has done a great good job since the first medical care [in] the arena of the fight. The hospital staff also made all necessary effort getting imaging tests with 'Toquinho,' and from then on, we started treatment immediately. His right foot is still very swollen. We still do not have prediction of when he will be able to go back training."
Penick's Analysis: I don't know that it would have changed much in the fight, because Palhares was never going to be able to stand and trade with Lombard for a lengthy period of time, but it certainly didn't help him out. It may have expedited the finish, and it's unfortunate to have that type of injury happen for any fighter in the middle of a fight. Hopefully he'll be able to recover sooner rather than later, but this is not an injury to rush back from at all.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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