Thiago Santos suffers severe knee injuries, out until mid-2020

UFC light heavyweight contender Thiago Santos suffered severe knee injuries in his fight against Jon Jones at UFC 239, and his team says he will be out until mid-2020 at the earliest.

According to a report from Combate, an MRI scan taken Monday showed that Santos suffered ruptures in the ligaments of his left knee and meniscus. It’s feared that Santos has also suffered a meniscal injury and partial rupture to the ligaments in his right knee, though Santos will first have to undergo further testing to confirm that.

The report says Santos will travel to Los Angeles this week in order to have surgery on his left knee, and possibly on his right knee depending on what the tests say about it. His team says that Santos will be out at least eight months, and that’s an optimistic timeframe for his recovery. He will likely be out until mid-2020 at the earliest, and possibly even longer.

According to the report, the doctor who looked at Santos’ knee was amazed that he was able to go five round against Jones in the main event of UFC 239. The doctor said his left knee was already loose and that all the kicks he threw in the fight led to more severe injuries. Furthermore, his right knee was injured due to overcompensating for his left knee injury. Basically, Santos is badly injured right now and will be out for a while.

Santos lost a split decision to Jones at UFC 239, with one judge scoring it 48-47 for Santos and two having it 48-47 for Jones. Santos was one round away from winning the UFC light heavyweight title, but that didn’t stop UFC president Dana White from denying him another title shot, with White saying he thought Jones clearly won the fight.

Should Thiago Santos get a rematch with Jon Jones when he returns to the Octagon?