UFC lightweight Nikolas Motta has been forced out of his UFC 287 match-up with Ignacio Bahamondes next month.
On Friday, Brazil’s Motta announced on social media that a headbutt sustained in training forced him to withdraw from the match-up, set for Miami on April 8.
A video clip showed Motta sporting stitches, and an accompanying message laid out just how nasty the injury was — though it seems the original images of the injury have since been removed.
“Don’t swipe left if you have a weak stomach. I had this accident couple days by a headbutt in wrestling practice and my coaches and people that I trust made the decision to ask to to pull back my fight three weeks to have enough time to heal this or it would easily open in the fight and they would stop the fight by doctor stoppage,” Motta wrote, announcing the news. “I had a lot stitches all my career but never had one deep like that, this white part on my cut in the second picture is my tendon, it got very swollen and inflamed. So even if felt unbelievable that something like that happened right before my fight, after thinking a lot I could see that was the right choice from my coach that I trust.”
“I been focused and always in shape since after my fight in September last year and didn’t go home for the first time to see my family in the end of the year to stay ready to fight in December or beginning of the year and I been focused since then. So I just need couple weeks to heal that 100% trust the process and finally be back.”
The UFC has not yet released any statement on the matter, or confirmed whether they’ll keep the match-up together and give Motta the extra three weeks he’s looking for.
Motta (13-4) is a 2020 Contender Series veteran with a 1-1 record inside the octagon. He’s coming off a win over Cameron VanCamp in September. Bahamondes sports an identical record and also arrived in the UFC via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. He’s won his last two bouts.
