Gilbert Melendez mötte Benson Henderson i en titelmatch om UFC:s lättviktstitel på UFC on Fox 7 nu i helgen. Under matchens gång så kunde man skåda hans nyckelben lite högre upp än vad som är normalt, och även UFC:s kommentator Joe Rogan påpekade att det hela såg märkligt ut. Men skadan var inget som han ådrog sig under matchens gång, utan det hela hände under träningen inför den planerade matchen mot Pat Healy i September förra året.
Nedan följer en beskrivning på hur skadan gick till.
”About 12 days out of the fight, I was training hard,” säger Melendez till MMAFighting. ”[It was] one of my last days, last days of hard sparring. I was training hard and Jake Shields and I were battling on a takedown and I didn’t want to give it up. I landed hard on my shoulder and ended up separating my shoulder.”
”I can tough anything out,” berättar han. ”If I had a broken leg, I’d tough it out, for my family, for my daughter, I’d do it in a heartbeat. That’s not what it came down to. It came down to, what is good for me, what is good for my career. I can let my ego take over like maybe in my younger years. But, it’s a business now and I had to treat it like a business. I could have gone out there and fought with one arm, but it’s not the best choice for my career and I don’t think Pat wants to win like that, I think most fighters in my situation would understand.”
”I can’t even make a decision right now,” säger Melendez. ”I’m still injured right now. I want to reevaluate in maybe two more weeks, maybe I reevaluate in two more weeks and start making decisions like that. But I’m hoping about five weeks before I start training hard. I feel better rapidly every day, it was just bad timing.”
I intervjun ovan så får han en fråga om skadan men han svarar att det inte är något problem längre:
”Everything is fine, I separated my shoulder a long time ago, it looks funky, you know what I mean?”
