Soa Palelei details rib-injury suffered before UFC 164

Following his UFC 164 performance where the Australian heavyweight Soa Palelei took a lot of criticism for his bout against Nikita Krylov including some from UFC president Dana White. The Perth based fighter today took to social media to apologise for the performance and go into a bit more detail in regards to the injured rib that caused him not to perform at his fullest. 

In what was his return to the UFC after making his debut back in 2007, Palelei did overcome the injury with the help of his cornerman to go on and defeat his young opponent, stopping him with punches in the third-round.

Soa posted the following.

“Today I want to take the opportunity to apologise for my performance this weekend at UFC 164. Unfortunately the week previous I fractured my rib in training. On Wednesday the 28th of August I went to see Dr. Michael Gordon who works as a doctor for the Milwaukee NBA Team at Aurora Sinai Hospital. The x ray diagnosed a fractured rib. This is the last thing any fighter wants to face going into a fight. The last 3 years I have pushed so hard to get to where i am today and back into the UFC and once again thank Dana white and Joe Silva for the opportunity to return. Nothing was going to stop me from stepping back into the octagon. I just needed pain killers to get me through the fight or a quarter zone (sic: cortisone) injection. Dr Gordon advised not to go with the quarter injection (sic: cortisone) as it would hinder my ability to feel any injury if it was caused during the fight. 

In the 1st round I went for a take down and felt my rib pop and from then I couldn’t breath and lost my power. I was in a lot of pain during the fight. I knew that i had to dig deep and push through the pain to look for the right opportunity to get the win which I managed to do thanks to a great corner not to stop the fight and keep pushing through it. From the fight I went straight to hospital in a lot of pain and now am on the road to recovery. 

In saying that I wasn’t able to perform to my best capability and wasn’t my usual self due to this injury. I am looking forward to my return in full health and will make sure to fully recover. With that I want to thank you all for the support and without my family friends and fans this all wouldn’t be worth it.”