UFC Fighter Had ‘Brain Bleed’ After KO

No combat sports injury is more serious than brain trauma, and one of the fighters in Saturday’s UFC main event is coming back from a “brain bleed” one year ago.

Vincente Luque, a 31-year-old from Brazil, lost brutally to fellow welterweight Geoff Neal in August 2022. Luque took significant damage before falling head-first onto the canvas.

Fortunately, the referee jumped in before he took any punches while on the ground.

Medical professionals cleared Luque to fight again this weekend in Las Vegas despite the cerebral hemorrhage from 2022, MMA Junkie reported.

“He suffered a brain bleed (a year ago),” Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullen told MMA Junkie. “He had to bring before the commission clearance from a neurosurgeon and a neurologist independently.”

Luque (14-4 in the UFC) was a betting odds favorite in all but two of his UFC fights up until this weekend, according to BestFightOdds.com. Saturday’s main event against 38-year-old Rafael dos Anjos (21-12 UFC), also of Brazilian origin, would be his third as the underdog.

That’s assuming no major line movement, but we’ll explain why bettors are backing Luque. 

Luque vs. dos Anjos Betting Odds

Luque opened as a slight +125 betting underdog, with RDA priced at -150. Early action has come in on the former, with the odds now -105 (Luque) and -115 (RDA) at DraftKings Sportsbook.

If not for his devastating loss a year ago, Luque likely would have opened as a sizable favorite in this fight against the physically smaller RDA, who also has more wear and tear on his body at nearly 40 years of age. Luque’s reach advantage is a vast six inches.

RDA has spent over eight hours inside the UFC octagon, the most in the promotion’s history, according to the UFC’s stats page.

Luque appears in great spirits, as seen in an interview with The AllStar. He stressed that he had never been knocked out in his career before losing to Neal last year.

It’s worth noting RDA hasn’t produced a TKO win since 2015, coming at a lighter weight class. 

Signs point to the line continuing to drift in Luque’s favor. Despite the scary injury, he looks like a reasonable play on the moneyline in the five-round fight.

We recommend wagering a unit or two on him at -125 or better ahead of Saturday’s bout.

UFC Fight Night: Luque vs. dos Anjos Main Card

The event takes place August 12 from the APEX facility in Las Vegas. The main card starts at 7 p.m. ET. The prelims commence at 4 p.m. ET.

• Vicente Luque v. Rafael dos Anjos (Welterweight)
• Cub Swanson v. Hakeem Dawodu (Featherweight)
• Khalil Rountree v. Chris Daukaus (Light Heavyweight)
• Polyana Viana v. Iasmin Lucindom (Strawweight)
• Tafon Nchukwi v. AJ Dobson (Middleweight)

Prelims

• Josh Fremd v. Jamie Pickett (Middleweight)
• Marcus McGhee v. JP Buys (Bantamweight)
• Terrance McKinney v. Mike Breeden (Lightweight)
• Francis Marshall v. Isaac Dulgarian (Featherweight)
• Josh Parisian v. Martin Buday (Heavyweight)
• Montserrat Ruiz v. Jaqueline Amorim (Strawweight)
• Juliana Miller v. Luana Santos (Flyweight)

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC