It has been an eventful month for Carlos Ulberg.
On April 12, the Kiwi mixed martial artist reached the pinnacle of the sport when he knocked out Czech fighter Jiri Prochazka in the first round to win the UFC light heavyweight championship.
An athlete who joined the UFC in 2021 still learning the sport on the fly after transitioning from kickboxing, it was a moment the 35-year-old had been steadily building towards for the past five years.
But it came at a cost.
Ulberg suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee early in the bout, which required surgery.
He remained in Las Vegas for surgery and began his rehabilitation at the UFC’s Performance Institute – while also making appearances at events such as WWE’s WrestleMania, with his newly acquired belt on display.
Now back in New Zealand, Ulberg is continuing his recovery as he builds to a return to the octagon.
Speaking to the Herald, Ulberg’s head coach at Auckland’s City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman, said the expectation was he would be ready to make his first title defence before the year was over.
“Well, if you ask him, he told me five months, which would be absolutely miraculous,” Bareman said.
“I don’t think there are too many cases where a completely torn ACL has come back to full athletic potential after five months. We’re probably looking more like 9 to 12 [months], so by the fourth quarter, you should see him defending his title against someone – probably looking like an interim champion. So, by the last quarter of this year, he’ll be back in the cage.”
Bareman noted he hadn’t received word from the promotion or heard anything indicating the UFC were looking to book an interim title fight for a placeholder champion while Ulberg was out of action.
He did, however, say it was a likely outcome to keep the division moving.
“It just seems likely with an injury of that nature taking so long that they’ll make an interim title in between. It doesn’t matter to us. Carlos is the rightful champion.”
There is no clear top contender in the division, with five of the top six ranked fighters all without a win in their most recent bouts – aside from No 2 and former champion Alex Pereira, however, he vacated the title in order to move up and challenge for the heavyweight title in June. The highest-ranked fighter still at light heavyweight and coming off a win is No 7 Paulo Costa, with the former middleweight title challenger claimed a TKO win on the same card that Ulberg won the title. It was Costa’s first appearance at light heavyweight since 2021.
Looking back at Ulberg’s title win, it was a rare moment in which Bareman began to panic in the corner.
With his athlete injured just a couple of minutes into the first round, it was a tough place to be as a coach in a sport where movement is a crucial component in both attacking and defending.
But while Bareman was fearing for the worst, his fellow coaches Mike Angove, Andrei Paulet and Tristram Apikotoa were calm and expected the injury would lead to Prochazka leaving himself open for Ulberg to hit.
And Ulberg played his part perfectly. The injury hampered him, but he never stopped looking for his opportunities. When he fell, he got right back up and, eventually, found the left hook he had been looking for to finish the fight.
“I’ve seen people blow their ACL out in this gym over 20 years. I’ve seen many, many people, and they’re a screaming pile of mess on the ground because that’s a proper, serious injury. Carlos didn’t falter for one minute,” Bareman said.
“I don’t think that that is truly getting the appreciation that it should, but I know how horrific that injury is and how much concentration and focus he would have had to have to get through that moment. I think it’s, to me, one of the greatest sporting moments in New Zealand sport history. For me. Other people might have a different opinion on that.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.