Dos Anjos’ wife releases statement after his withdrawal from UFC 196

Following the announcement of his withdrawal from the highly anticipated superfight with Conor McGregor at UFC 196, Rafael dos Anjos’ wife has released the following statement and x-ray on his Facebook page.

The statement was posted in Portuguese and was translated into English by Evy Rodrigues

Here is RDA's wife statement in English: pic.twitter.com/Pl5OH4Uaon

— Evy Rodrigues (@vevyrodrigues) February 24, 2016

Esposa de Dos Anjos publica raio-X: "Como ele lutaria como um saci?" https://t.co/ren2oeWR1G @CrisDosAnjos82 pic.twitter.com/XZpf5guvXT

— Evy Rodrigues (@vevyrodrigues) February 24, 2016

Dos Anjos’ head coach Rafael Cordeiro also spoke to MMAFighting about the injury

“Unfortunately, an injury happened in his last training Friday,” Cordeiro told MMAFighting.com. “We were sparring, and Rafael threw a kick at the knee of the kid that was training with him. He immediately stopped kicking, put his foot on the ground, and felt a little pain. He put some ice, and couldn’t walk normally.

“He put more ice during the weekend to see if he would be able to train on Monday. On Monday, he contacted the UFC and said what happened. He asked to visit the UFC’s doctor, and they showed the fracture.”

“It was meant to happen, it was inevitable. Unfortunately, it’s a full contact sport and (injuries) happens,”

“We have to think about what’s next, what will happen, and how long it will take for him to recover. It will take at least three weeks until he’s able to train again, and then we will know when he will be able to fight again, so we can reschedule the fight without any problem.”

“We are upset. Everybody waited for this fight,”

“The entire team is backing Rafael in this decision. Rafael’s health is what matters the most for us now. But that’s a fight we wanted, for sure. We know that Rafael has what it takes to beat (McGregor). This fight will absolutely happen, and Rafael will prove in there that he’s the best at 155 pounds.”

Sorry to all my real fans and @ufc,I never cancel any fight due to injury but accidents happen #Jesus #truechampion pic.twitter.com/wrV58w9KaS

— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) February 24, 2016