Junior dos Santos has confirmed he was hospitalized following his brutal knockout loss to Robelis Despaigne at MVP MMA 1 on Saturday night, the first-ever MMA fight to air on Netflix.
Dos Santos posted a video on Instagram in Portuguese addressing his condition and the knockout itself.
“Yesterday, I went to the hospital after that strike I took right to the face. The boy hits hard. I didn’t see anything. People are asking, ‘Did it hurt?’ Did it hurt? What are you talking about? I didn’t feel a thing, man. You just fall asleep.”
The 42-year-old former UFC heavyweight champion was cleared by doctors before flying home from California on Sunday. He said he planned to reflect more on the fight once he returned home.
“Tomorrow I’ll be back at home, and then I’ll talk a little bit about how it went and the fight itself because I was feeling good, you know? Good, but somehow I wasn’t quite there. Very strange, very strange.”
He also touched on the subject of age with a degree of uncertainty.
“I think I’m getting old. No, I’m not, but anyway, let’s see.”
The knockout was the ninth of Dos Santos’ career. He entered the fight with a 21-10 record and had spoken earlier in the week about wanting to build a long-term future with Most Valuable Promotions. Despaigne called out Francis Ngannou immediately after the finish, setting up what appears to be the most logical next step for MVP MMA’s heavyweight division.