Carlos Ulberg has undergone surgery after scans confirmed that he did tear his right ACL early in the first round of his fight for the vacant 205lb title against Jiri Prochazka last weekend, which he went on to win by KO just a few minutes later.

Ulberg posted an image on Instagram from his hospital bed yesterday that stated, “knee surgery done,” while his manager Ash Belcastro confirmed to Ariel Helwani that Ulberg had “snapped it,” during the fight.

In addition to the ACL tear, Belcastro added that due to Ulberg fighting on after the initial injury, he also went on to suffer bone bruising and tibia damage.

Even that didn’t stop Ulberg though, and enabled him to battle on to deliver the fight-ending blow to claim the vacant title.

According to Belcastro the surgery went, “really well,” and Ulberg is now, “dedicated to getting back as soon as he can.”

An ACL injury like this is serious and there’s no guarantee how long it will take to heal, though the average recovery time is around 9 months with additional time then being required to get back in fighting shape.

As such the UFC now has an uncomfortable decision to make as to whether or not they’ll strip Ulberg of the title, as they did a few years ago when both Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill each suffered long-term injuries (shoulder and achilles tendon respectively) during their light-heavyweight title reigns.

Alternatively they could just look to set up an interim title fight in the meantime, though UFC analyst Anthony Smith has suggested that the promotion might hold-fire on that for the time being.

“My guess is going to be they don’t create an interim because there’s not really a clear picture of who you would put in it,” Smith told MMA Junkie. “I think they probably let those guys fight it out and figure out who the clear top-two guys are, then if he still needs more time, they’ll create an interim. I don’t think they’ll do it right away.“