Perth – Not many fighters coming off a loss get to fight on a big PPV but UFC flyweight Shannon Ross will make his official UFC debut at UFC 284 against Kleydson Rodrigues on Saturday night.
“It’s phenomenal mate. I’ve said to a few people this week it’s like your wife’s wedding day. The perfect dress, the perfect card, the perfect venue. For me this is…I get to fight in my country, my fans don’t have to travel too far. I’ve had an awesome camp so it’s like the perfect turnaround for me,” Ross told reporters on Wednesday.
“Looking forward to obviously fighting on a massive PPV card and getting topped by a chance for Alex (Volkanovski) to fight for a double world title. Makes it even more interesting.”
Ross (12-6) lost his Dana White Contender Series fight in August 2022, but was still signed to the promotion. Getting onto UFC 284 was not a surprise, but it definitely was up in the air for Ross.
“I wasn’t too nervous about not getting on this card because I already had a contract. I thought this would be where I make my debut once it got announced because obviously I’m here in the country, and it makes sense to have my local countrymen here, supporting me, buying tickets. I wasn’t too nervous about that,” Ross said.
“I was definitely nervous directly after the (DWCS) fight to see if I would get a contract or not.”
Recently it was revealed that Ross may have been fighting with an appendicitis. The Aussie offered up some details.
“That was my contender series fight. I had appendicitis all fight week and it was ruptured before I actually went out to the fight. So I fought with a ruptured appendix, septicemia, blood poisoning. The day straight after the fight I went to the hospital in Las Vegas, had emergency surgery, had to stay in hospital for 5 days,” said Ross.
“And then flew back to Australia and started my rehab then.”
The story alone is insane. Getting into a mixed martial arts bout while suffering from appendicitis is crazy enough. Even crazier, Ross had no idea he had it, and went ahead and fought.
“I didn’t know it was happening. I thought ‘I’m extremely hungry this fight week’ which is a bit strange because I had this stomach pain going on, and I kept pushing it to the back of my head just thinking you’re being soft and you’re hungry, don’t worry about that,” he said.
“The day after the fight went on shaking and convulsing in my hotel room. My coach said this isn’t hunger this is something else. We got down to the hospital and they CT scanned my stomach and they said yeah you’ve got a ruptured appendix mate and we’ve got to go in for surgery.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Shannon Ross above. Ross takes on Kleydson Rodrigues at UFC 284 on Saturday night.
