Carlos Ulberg will be on the shelf for a while, as expected.
This past Saturday’s UFC 327 main event saw Ulberg become the new light heavyweight champion with a first-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka, a finish was made all the more spectacular by Ulberg seemingly suffering a debilitating leg injury just moments earlier. On Friday, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck confirmed with Ulberg’s management that the fighter tore the ACL in his right knee.
Ulberg posted an image to his Instagram Stories announcing he
has already undergone surgery to address the injury.
The torn ACL was first reported by Yahoo! Sports, which added that Ulberg also “experienced bone bruising and tibia damage” after the initial tear as the fight continued.
Ulberg’s timetable for recovery is not yet known, though many professional athletes that have suffered the injury typically take six-to-nine months to recover with additional time needed to get back into condition to compete. It is also not yet known what the UFC plans to do with the light heavyweight title situation, whether Ulberg will vacate or be stripped of his newly won belt, or if an interim title will be created in Ulberg’s absence.
