Official speech about the medical impediment
and remove from the fight on October 21st in Abudhabi. I will be
back sooner than later . Thanks! 🧃🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/m0Rqe6fEAG— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA)
October 17, 2023
Paulo
Costa’s elbow is not a pretty sight.
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On Tuesday, the middleweight shared a photo of the elbow infection
that caused him to withdraw from his co-main event showdown against
Khamzat
Chimaev at UFC 294. Costa initially planned to remain on
Saturday’s card after undergoing surgery a few weeks before the
event, but “Borrachinha” ultimately had to undergo another
procedure.
“This is what my elbow looks like at this exact moment,” Costa said
in a video on social media. “It is open exactly as it is in this
photo …The hole needs to stay like this, open and closing from the
inside out. You cannot close an injury with stitches when you have
an infection like this.
“This was not a medical error or my mistake or whoever. This is the
result of a serious chronic bacterial infection that became
resistant to various antibiotics and even with appropriate medical
treatment, the infection insisted on returning.”
With the images Costa has provided, it is clear that facing Chimaev
at UFC 294 was no longer an option. Instead, Chimaev will face
former welterweight champion Kamaru
Usman in Saturday’s new co-headliner. The winner of that
contest is expected to receive a middleweight title shot.
“There will always be criticism, regardless of the situation,”
Costa said. “Some might say: ‘Oh you could be fighting like that,
even with the elbow open.’ Or others, they might say: ‘Why didn’t
you wait to have this surgery after the fight?’ I didn’t have that
option. I had two options. I would have emergency surgery or I
would put my health at permanent risk.”
Costa last appeared at UFC 278 in August 2022, when he ended a
two-bout skid with a unanimous decision triumph over Luke
Rockhold in Salt Lake City.