'Cyborg' Santos says skull is fine, Page 'only broke the eggshell'
Even fight fans who are accustomed to unsightly injuries were taken aback by the image of Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos' cracked skull that has been making the rounds on social media.
The 38-year-old was hospitalized after being knocked out by a flying knee from Michael Page at a Bellator MMA event on Saturday, but Santos later told Combate that he's already feeling better despite the initial prognosis sounding dire.
"I'm all right. Nothing happened." Santos said, according to a translation from Portuguese by Lucas Rezende of Bloody Elbow. "Everyone is so worried about me. They're making fundraisers, but I don't need anything. I'm really fine.
"He only broke the eggshell, but nothing happened to my brain. Bellator didn't deny me anything, they're helping me with everything."
Bellator president Scott Coker confirmed that the promotion will be paying Santos' medical bills as well as rewarding him his "win" bonus for his troubles.
The good news is that Santos is already out of the hospital, though he still requires surgery despite his rosy outlook.
"I didn't want to stay in the hospital because I didn't feel anything," Santos said. "I had no reason to stay there. I left and I will wait a couple of days to return to the United States and I'll have my surgery there. Nobody needs to worry. Everything is fine."
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