Newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg is facing an uncertain title timeline after suffering a serious knee injury in his championship-winning performance at UFC 327 in Winnipeg.
Speaking at the UFC Winnipeg post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White said the promotion is not rushing a decision on Ulberg’s title status and has not discussed an interim belt.
White explained that Ulberg will remain in the United States for treatment rather than return home immediately. “And he’s gonna stay in Vegas. He’s got the surgery, and he’s gonna start working at the [UFC Performance Institute]. Apparently where he lives in Australia, he’s in a remote part of the country, so there isn’t much around him.”
White highlighted how the UFC PI has changed the way the promotion handles serious injuries. “What we would do before we built the Performance Institute is we would get these guys surgeries with great doctors, and then they’d go home, and they wouldn’t do anything, they didn’t do any physical therapy or recovery. Now with the PI, that place has saved more fights and helped more athletes prolong their careers. We’ll get him in there, and see how fast he starts to recover and we always figure it out.”
Asked specifically whether there had been any talks about an interim light heavyweight title, White was clear. “We have not. Carlos is still getting set up here and we’ll figure it out.”
