Khabib Nurmagomedov to undergo knee surgery, expected to be out four to six months
UFC lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee on Friday and is expected to be out for four to six months. The news was broken by UFC Tonight on Thursday evening.
The undefeated Nurmagomedov has already missed more than a year of competition due to an ACL tear in his right leg. In his last bout, he won a decision over Rafael dos Anjos, who is the new lightweight champion after upsetting Anthony Pettis in March.
On Thursday, Nurmagomedov injured his knee during sparring in San Jose at his American Kickboxing Academy gym. His doctors initially diagnosed him as having a torn meniscus but the fighter sought a second opinion from UFC doctors in Los Angeles who concurred with his initial diagnosis.
Khabib was scheduled to fight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone in a fight that was expected to decide the next 155-pound title challenger May 23 at UFC 187. After injuring his knee and pulling out of the bout, Nurmagomedov was replaced by John Makdessi.
Now, the Russian wrestler is set to go under the knife once more and hopes to return to action in October. According to the UFC Tonight report, the fighter and his coaches believe that Nurmagomedov came back to training too soon, resulting in his knee breaking down, again.
They believe that Khabib could have began to overcompensate for his still-healing knee, during training. They were told that he could possibly return in September, after this latest injury, but so that they don't make the same mistake twice, they are shooting for a later return date, now.
