UFC women’s flyweight contender Taila Santos fought through a broken orbital bone against Valentina Shevchenko.

Last Saturday night, the Brazilian met ‘The Bullet’ in the co-main event of UFC 275. Despite heading into the fight as a massive underdog, Santos defied expectations. The 28-year-old utilized her wrestling and had massive success against the dominant champion.

However, the third round saw the bout begin to turn. The champion and challenger had a massive clash of heads which saw Santos begin to have her eye close. Following this, Shevchenko began to have much greater success. She went on to retain her title via a split decision.

Days after the contest more has emerged regarding that clash of heads. Taila Santos’s manager confirmed in an interview with MMAFighting that the Brazilian suffered a broken orbital bone. Despite the injury, she fought on and nearly emerged as flyweight champion.

Furthermore, her manager, Tiago Okamura, noted that she is preparing to travel to Brazil to have the surgery. She had the option of having the procedure in Singapore, but she opted to have it done in her home country.

“We had two options,” Okamura said. “To have surgery here, and God knows how long we’d have to stay and how the recovery would take, or wait two weeks for the swelling to reduce a little bit and then have the surgery.” (h/t MMAFighting)

Tiago Okamura continued, “The doctors said the long flight [back to Brazil] would not be a problem, and we would have a better support back home, since [Taila Santos] would only stay with one person [in Singapore].”

What do you think about this news? Did you think Taila Santos deserved the win at UFC 275? Do you want to see a rematch between the Brazilian and Valentina Shevchenko? Sound off in the comments below!