Three-time ADCC world champion Yuri Simoes has just announced that he has had to undergo surgery to repair a shoulder injury that he recently suffered in training. Simoes confirmed that he actually originally suffered the injury during the very start of preparation for his last match with Nicky Rodriguez at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5. He apparently continued his training camp at the time but as the injury worsened, he sought out the advice of a doctor just a few days prior to the match taking place.
Although Simoes was advised that he would require surgery in order to fix his shoulder, he decided not to withdraw from his match against Rodriguez as it was just days away at this point. Simoes went on to lose that match on points and he said that “From the very beginning of the match, I knew it was a bad mistake.” This was actually his only match of 2023 and would be the first time that he stepped on the mats since winning the absolute division at ADCC 2022. This was his third time winning a gold medal at ADCC and his first time standing on top of the podium of the absolute division.
While that was an incredible accomplishment in itself, it also guaranteed him the next opportunity to challenge Gordon Ryan for the superfight championship. Seeing as the recovery from this shoulder injury and the resulting surgery will probably keep Yuri Simoes out of action for a little while now, it’s going to be difficult for him to fit much competition practice in ahead of that match at ADCC 2024. Ryan has been undefeated for almost 6 years now and has won all four of his previous matches with Simoes but regardless, Simoes has said that “I believe in myself, and so does my family and my team, to me that’s way more than enough!”
Yuri Simoes announced the news that he was going to have surgery to fix a shoulder injury in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
