"I am here to talk about my last few days. I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt pain in my knee while I was training wrestling. I had an MRI of my knee and three doctors told me my knee was torn. I took medicine to help with the pain, and although my knee felt loose, I said "no," this date is very important to me and I continued training.

I tried training more upper body and boxing; I kept losing weight and I was gonna fight no matter what. Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs.

"After years of fighting, my body made me stop this time. I am here to tell you that I cannot fight on this card. I am very sad because I trained for four months. This is a very difficult time for me. Now, I know that I need to have surgery on my knee. I have no option... I am going to work hard to return. I know my God is with me and He is going to bless me one more time. I am praying a lot and I know that God is going to bless the surgeon. I am going to be 100% and will fight many more years."



...This is a very, very, very hard moment for me. This is my livelihood, my job and I already put in a lot of time and effort into this fight. This was a fight I really, really desired... You cannot imagine how much I wanted to fight on this card. I am not the kind of fighter who fights just for the money and I will prove to you now - I could have entered the Octagon, received one punch, and said "that's it, I have broken ribs." But I fight to give you a big show. When I fight I always give 100% and I fight to show everybody real MMA and to help the sport grow and to excite my fans.

"I apologize to all my fans. I ask for your prayers for a successful surgery and healthy body. I will be back in shape to fight again and to give you more excitement. A big hug for all of you and be with God."