Add Nursulton Ruziboev to the list of fighters in the hospital after UFC Paris on Saturday.
Ruziboev took on Michael “Venom” Page in another terrible Michael “Venom” Page fight where barely anything happened. Over 15 minutes, Page landed just 12 significant strikes while Ruziboev landed 8. Judges would hand the win to MVP with 29-28 scores across the board.
Like many of Page’s past UFC fights, there were brief moments of brilliance that came and went like flashes of lightning. A spinning back elbow.
A leaping kick. And, depending on how you feel about the move, a nice oblique kick that landed effectively on Ruziboev.
New footage shows the Uzbekistan fighter being wheeled through a hospital on a stretcher for surgery. There’s no news just yet on how badly his knee was injured or how long he might be out.
This is extra unfortunate for Ruziboev because he was just coming back from double ACL surgery earlier this year. The fighter stepped into the cage weeks (yes, weeks!) after the procedure and beat Andrey Pulyaev via first round neck crank at UFC Baku. Three months later and he was back in the cage against Page, but not so lucky to earn a quick win.
Instead, Page hit him with a kick designed to destroy knees and then mocked him immediately afterwards, miming an injury.
You have to question how smart it was for Ruziboev to fight twice in the four months immediately following double knee surgery. And in general, seeing how Michael “Venom” Page turns every fight into a stinker where he could cripple you for a year with oblique kicks, maybe other fighters are wise to pass on MVP fights when offered.
