{"id":632490,"date":"2026-04-26T18:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T18:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632490\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T18:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T18:13:12","slug":"carlos-ulberg-shares-timeline-for-ufc-return-from-knee-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632490\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Ulberg shares timeline for UFC return from knee surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Ulberg is starting to get a better idea of how long he could be sidelined after blowing his knee out at UFC 327.<\/p>\n

Video highlights from the Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg fight for the vacant light heavyweight title showed Ulberg\u2019s calf snapping back and forth like a torn rubber band,<\/a> which sports doctors noted was a telltale sign of a torn ACL. Somehow the scrappy New Zealander managed to catch Prochazka with a big left hook that ended the fight before his leg completely gave out. Now he\u2019s sharing how long the recovery period could be following knee surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the [UFC Performance Institute], the staff here have been amazing,\u201d he said in a new interview. \u201cJust real positive about the progress in rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n

UFC CEO Dana White noted that Ulberg would be staying in Las Vegas<\/a> to work with the Performance Institute, and it\u2019s already paid off with quick improvements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went into the surgery thinking this could be between six to eight months or so, longer for some,\u201d Ulberg said. \u201cBut, you know, with the progress that we\u2019ve got at the moment, it\u2019s only been a week now and we\u2019re moving pretty good. I think we\u2019ve got a good, formula going, and the body is healing really fast. The doctors are happy, the [PI] staff are happy. It is really nice to be able to work closely with the PI and get the treatment that I need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all, I think we are just impressed that the surgery went well. We have done it quickly and promptly and then got on to the rehab as soon as we could. I think it all comes down to the staff being on me about it. We\u2019re doing two a day and yeah, I think we\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACL surgery used to be a kiss of death for athletes at worst and a year off at best. These days you hear about pros returning after just six months, and Ulberg is certainly confident<\/a> that he\u2019s on that fast track to recovery with the close attention of PI staff.<\/p>\n

In the past, the UFC has asked light heavyweight champions with bad injuries to relinquish the title<\/a> to allow the division to move forward. There\u2019s been no hint of that yet, and signs that UFC brass is ready to push Ulberg promotionally through this injury. For example, Carlos popped up during Sunday\u2019s WrestleMania 42 main event (held by UFC sister company WWE) where CM Punk snatched an ula fala flower necklace off him to mock fellow Polynesian Roman Reigns.<\/p>\n

Between that show of support and Ulberg\u2019s quick recovery, things are looking a little more stable at 205 than they were just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Ulberg is starting to get a better idea of how long he could be sidelined after blowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-632490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}