“It doesn’t bend at all.” Russian fighter injured after UFC 324

Russian Andrei Pulyaev suffered a hand injury during a fight with Cameroonian Ateba Gauthier at the UFC 324 tournament in Las Vegas, said the second of the domestic fighter and former Bellator champion Andrei Koreshkov.

At UFC 324, the middleweight fight between Pulyaev and Gauthier lasted all three rounds. The Russian was defeated by unanimous decision.

— In the first round there was nothing so dangerous for Andrey. Well, yes, at the beginning he missed a blow, but from this blow, let’s say, he woke up more than he was shocked. And he fell because the canvas was slippery. In general, he almost always lost his balance in this fight due to the fact that he was sliding. Except for the blow in the second round. This is his peculiarity, he likes to slide. And this happens in training.

Gauthier is a really strong guy. But I understood perfectly well that Andrei was capable of fighting him completely and not allowing himself to be knocked out. And in principle, as many have noticed, Andrey gave a worthy fight. He hit a lot and broke his opponent’s face. No one had done this before. The third round was generally won in the opinion of two judges, and in my opinion too. But unfortunately, these conclusions from the balance spoiled the picture. Well, what can you do?

— What are Pulyaev’s future plans? When might the next fight be?

— It’s not clear yet. After this fight, his hand was broken and injured. We need to heal the injury, and then we’ll think further and look at some proposals. Regarding the injury: the doctors looked at it on the spot, no one did an x-ray – this was not required. We put on a splint, and when we arrive home we will deal with this issue. His finger doesn’t bend at all. When he gave the first good counter blow, it hit him on the forehead and broke his hand. Most likely, he broke it,” the Match TV website quotes Koreshkov as saying.

Pulyaev has 10 wins and four losses in MMA, while Gauthier has 10 wins and one loss.

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