Brasilianaren förklarade nyligen hur skadan som tvingade honom ur månadens titelförsvar på Bellator 144.
Under gårdagen kom det tråkiga beskedet inför Bellator 144 den 23:e oktober – den före detta bantamviktsmästaren Eduardo Dantas (17-4) drog sig ur titelmatchen mot Marcos ”Loro” Galvao (17-6) efter en revbensskada.
Under dagen släppte Dantas ett uttalande där han förklarade hur skadan uppkom och att incidenten tog plats under ett av de sista sparringpassen inför galan. UFC:s fjäderviktare Hacran Dias (23-3) låg bakom olyckan som är snarlik den som tvingade Jose Aldo (25-1) att dra sig ur den hypade titelmatchen mot Conor McGregor (18-2) på UFC 189.
”It was one of my last hard training sessions for the fight, I was in the final stretch. Unfortunately, and unintentionally, Hacran Dias hit me. I had trouble breathing at the moment, I got desperate, and was taken to the hospital. I was advised, against my will, to pull out of the fight against ‘Loro’ because of a dislocation in one of my ribs.
”I was waiting for this chance since Oct. 11, 2014, the day after my fight against Joe Warren, when I lost my belt. Since then, I wished for another opportunity to fight for the title seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Destiny wanted this not to happen on the 23rd, but I can’t wait for this to become true.
”I’m sorry about this incident and I ask for apologies to all parts involved, and especially ‘Loro’, who I’m sure was working hard so we could fight again. Just like me, I can imagine that all his efforts during these months were focused on this fight. But we’re high-level athletes who train to the limit, and I believe he’ll understand what happened to me. I hope I can recover quickly so I can still fight him in 2015.
”I’ve got a lot of messages from my fans through social media, and that makes me work even harder to recover and come back faster to training and to the Bellator cage. Thank you all for the love.”
Det uppdaterade matchkortet för Bellator 144 hittas nedan:
- Titelmatch i mellanvikt: Brandon Halsey vs. Rafael Carvalho
- Weltervikt: Dennis Olson vs. Brennan Ward
- Weltervikt: Michael Page vs. Charlie Ontiveros
- Fjädervikt: Isao Kobayashi vs. Goiti Yamauchi
