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.
Tanquinho wrote on Facebook:
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.
Up to now, Tanquinho had fought at Legacy FC and wanted his next fight to be for the belt. The problem is that according to him, nobody wanted to fight him. Tanquinho’s goal was always the UFC.
Rosa (10-2) had a last fight in June where he lost a split decision to Yair Rodriguez.
UFC Fight Night 81 features 135-pound champion T.J. Dillashaw against Dominick Cruz for the UFC title in the main event.
Tanquinho in MMA:
