Over three months on from suffering an ACL injury during his light-heavyweight title win over Jiri Prochazka, Carlos Ulberg has revealed that he doesn’t expect to be ready to compete again in the Octagon until next year.
“I’m just making sure I do everything I need to keep on task with my injury, but then also just been working closely with the UFC PI and make sure I can get back in there as quickly as possible, but also as safely as possible,” Ulberg said in a new UFC interview.
“We’re looking at early next year, so 2027 if we’re being smart, so we don’t come in too early and re-injure ourselves.”
Ulberg attended Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 282 event in Abu Dhabi to watch former 205lb champ Magomed Ankalaev defeat Bogdan Guskov by unanimous decision in an uneventful main event clash, knowing that he could be an opponent he may face upon his return.
“Congrats to Ankalaev,” Ulberg said. “I saw what I needed to see, and I’ll make sure I do everything I can to get back in there. The division is a little shaky at the moment. No one is very dominant at the moment. I saw what I needed to see. I’ll leave it at that. I’ve always seen Ankalaev as a top contender. So, he’s definitely one of the guys that will be up next as well.”
With Ulberg still likely to be out of action for at least another six months, he also took to social media to suggest other match-ups for the leading contenders in the mean-time, pairing Ankalaev up against Jiri Prochazka and Paulo Costa against Khalil Rountree.
