Several changes were made to UFC Sao Paulo leading up to the card due to injuries, but things nearly got much, much worse.
Eventual main event winner Thiago Santos suffered a thigh injury eight days before the event, his coach Tata Duarte told MMAFighting.com.
Santos stopped sparring 11 days before the fight, but “Marreta” still injured himself while attempting a suplex in a training session. It was the same injury he suffered in a 2016 bout against Eric Spicely, which he lost by submission.
“He went down in pain,” Duarte said. “We stopped training and sent him to our physical therapist, Bernardo Moura, to check him out and start the treatment.