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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Forced to pull out of his UFC 116 co-main event bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama due to a rib injury, Wanderlei Silva has issued a statement through Fighter's Only about his withdrawal from the bout. Below is the what Silva had to say about pulling out of the fight:
"I am here to talk about my last few days. I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt pain in my knee while I was training wrestling. I had an MRI of my knee and three doctors told me my knee was torn. I took medicine to help with the pain, and although my knee felt loose, I said "no," this date is very important to me and I continued training."
“I tried training more upper body and boxing; I kept losing weight and I was gonna fight no matter what. Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs.
“After years of fighting, my body made me stop this time. I am here to tell you that I cannot fight on this card. I am very sad because I trained for four months. This is a very difficult time for me. Now, I know that I need to have surgery on my knee. I have no option.
“I am going to work hard to return. I know my God is with me and He is going to bless me one more time. I am praying a lot and I know that God is going to bless the surgeon. I am going to be 100% and will fight many more years.”
“My fans know that my life was tough since the beginning. I want to ask for your strength and support one more time. This is a very, very, very hard moment for me. This is my livelihood, my job and I already put in a lot of time and effort into this fight. This was a fight I really, really desired.
“You cannot imagine how much I wanted to fight on this card. It was my birthday, I had friends and family from Brazil and around the world coming to see me and now I cannot fight. I am not the kind of fighter who fights just for the money and I will prove to you now - I could have entered the Octagon, received one punch, and said "that's it, I have broken ribs." But I fight to give you a big show. When I fight I always give 100% and I fight to show everybody real MMA and to help the sport grow and to excite my fans.
"This is the reason I cannot compete on this card. I apologize to my opponent. I have had opponents cancel fights. I hope they find you another opponent. I hope that I can fight with you in the future. You are an amazing fighter.
"I apologize to all my fans. I ask for your prayers for a successful surgery and healthy body. I will be back in shape to fight again and to give you more excitement. A big hug for all of you and be with God."
-Akiyama will now face off with Chris Leben in the co-main event of the July 3 pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Penick's Analysis: This was a really unfortunate injury for Silva. Reading his comments here it's a little heartbreaking with how much this fight meant to him, and longtime fans of "The Aze Murderer" are surely disappointed along with him. Who knows how long he'll be out now with a knee injury compounding the broken ribs that pushed him out of the fight, but hopefully he'll be able to make a full recovery and continue the resurgence that began at 185 lb. with his bout against Michael Bisping in February.
RELATED STORY: UFC NEWS: Chris Leben reportedly stepping in to face Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[Wanderlei Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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