So here’s where we stand.
Rafael dos Anjos has fractured his fifth metatarsal and won’t be able to fight until April at the earliest.
The injury was confirmed on Tuesday morning and ruled the Brazilian out of his UFC lightweight title defence against Conor McGregor at UFC 196.
The incident took place during a routine sparring session last Friday when, according to strength and conditioning coach Nick Curson, dos Anjos threw a left kick which was checked by a training partner.
https://twitter.com/SpeedofSport/status/702165451015458816
The fifth metatarsal is the long bone at the outside of your foot and fractures of this bone most commonly occur at the base of it, i.e. the part closest to the ankle.
Kings MMA head coach Rafael Cordeiro has told MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani that his fighter will not require surgery but that the fact that dos Anjos cannot put any weight on his left foot, the power foot for a southpaw, means that fighting is out of the question.
Dos Anjos continued to spar after sustaining the injury but, after waiting for improvements over the weekend, the swelling didn’t go down and the fracture was confirmed on Monday.
Dos Anjos’ manager Ali Abdelaziz told Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole that the Brazilian would be sidelined for around six weeks in total.
Initial reports suggest that the UFC are looking for a replacement for McGregor, rather than wait for the dos Anjos fight but the short notice stand-in has yet to be selected.
