Ex-UFC fighter Mateus Mendonca fractures penis in jiu-jitsu training: ‘I felt an absurd pain’

Former UFC fighter Mateus Mendonca underwent emergency surgery in Sao Paulo after fracturing his penis during a grappling session in Maranhao, Brazil, and will be sidelined from training for two months.

The 25-year-old is now promoting raffles on his social media to make ends meet while sidelined from training and unable to earn extra money teaching martial arts, giving away his UFC shirt and gloves, among other objects.

“I was training with [a teammate], and he landed his knee on my penis, and I felt an absurd pain and went to the bathroom,” Mendonca told MMA Fighting. “I was in Sao Paulo the other day, and my thing looked weird, it looked different, it has a lump. My girl told me to go to the hospital and they did an ultrasound exam, and told me to go to a different hospital right away for an emergency surgery.”

A teammate of former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at Chute Boxe Diego Lima team, “Bocao” went winless in three octagon appearances between 2023 and 2024 competing at bantamweight and flyweight, being released from his contract, but rebounded with a 20-second kneebar victory over Luan Matheus in a featherweight showdown this past October in Rio de Janeiro to bring his MMA record to 11-3.

“The doctor told me to avoid training and teaching for two months,” Mendonca said. “I have to stay at home and do nothing. I can’t teach and train, so I’m raffling that to have some money. I have a little daughter, and I brought my family with me to Sao Paulo to start training.”