Photo: BJJ Pix by Wiliam Burkhardt
World champion of jiu-jitsu and training partner of former UFC champion Ben Henderson, Augusto ‘Tanquinho’ Mendes signed with the UFC on Tuesday and was scheduled to fight Charles Rosa on five notice, on Saturday! The fight will not happen as Tanquinho suffered a freak rib injury in training right after signing the contract.
Undefeated, the bantamweight (135 lbs / 61kg) holds a perfect 5-0 MMA record. He was moving up to 145 lbs to face Charles Rosa at UFC Fight Night 81.
Sources close to Mendes said that he will get a new fight in a future card. Rosa will now face Kyle Bochniak on Sunday’s UFC event.
Charles Rosa didn’t like the fact that Tanquinho Mendes pulled out of the fight and said he still has suspicions about whether Mendes was truly injured. He told MMAjunkie:
“My first fight, Jimy Hettes, got injured, had a knee injury. The second guy? Augusto Mendes, I think he signed the contract, thought twice about it, and didn’t want to do it. I would love that fight. I feel like you accept something and then you turn it down, you give then you take it back – I only spent a full day prepping for him, but he took one of my days away, and I want it back.”
Tanquinho wrote on Facebook announcing his injury:
What a crazy last days.. I got the call from UFC on Sunday afternoon and accepted to fight in a short notice fight on UFC Boston on the 17th. I spent the rest of Sunday and pretty much all Monday working to get done with all the paper work…finally Monday night I sent everything to them and the UFC announced on Tuesday that I took the fight.. on my first training on Tuesday, I was doing a BJJ and rolling with one of my students and I got hurt with 5 days left to the fight.
So, I’m out of the fight 12h after signing with the UFC…they will reschedule a fight for me soon when I get better and I’d like to say thank you to the UFC for doing it for me. I’d like to say sorry to my opponent Charles Rosa for not be able to fight in Boston, I stepped in a short notice to not let him be with no fight but it was God’s will.
Sometimes we don’t understand what’s God’s plans but He works for our best!
Thank you everybody for all messages and support. I read everything! You are the best!
I’ll be back fighting soon, better than I was before, like I always did.
Charles Rosa (born August 24, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is brown belt in BJJ under Ricardo Liborio.
Born and raised in Peabody, Massachusetts, Rosa’s father, grandfather, and uncle were all professional boxers. Growing up, Rosa played football, hockey, lacrosse, and also trained in karate. Rosa continued playing lacrosse at Johnson & Wales University, where he also earned a degree in the culinary arts. After two of his brothers died from drug overdoses, Rosa later relocated to Florida, where he began to train in mixed martial arts at American Top Team.
