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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The month of July has not been kind to Kurt Pellegrino.
During his decision loss to George Sotiropolous at UFC 116 at the beginning of the month, Pellegrino suffered a knee injury that required surgery. While they were operating on a slightly torn meniscus, doctors found a torn ACL as well, according to MMAJunkie.com.
Pellegrino had actually had surgery on the meniscus after his UFC 111 fight with Fabricio Camoes in March, but was still able to compete at UFC 116. However, in the first round of the fight, as Sotiropolous knocked him down and followed after him, his left knee buckled. He fought threw the pain for the rest of the fight, but dropped the decision on the judges' scorecards.
He'll now need to schedule a second surgery as he had only signed off on the meniscus repair, and he's hopeful for a December return - though he may be out until next March.
"I'm hoping to be ready to fight by December – or March," he said. "Having meniscus surgery and ACL surgery is pretty serious. I just want to be healed up and ready to fight, and give (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and (UFC president) Dana White the true Kurt Pellegrino."
"That just wasn't me fighting, and now everyone knows why."
Penick's Analysis: Knee injuries are no joke, and to undergo surgery only to find out it's worse than initially thought has just got to be disheartening. For Pellegrino to tough it out through the rest of that fight with Sotiropolous was impressive, though, and hopefully he'll be able to make his return sooner rather than later.
RELATED STORY: UFC NEWS: Lytle, Sotiropolous, Bonnar and Grove reflect on UFC 116 victories: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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