Bellator Steps Up To Take Care Of Cyborg Santos And His Medical Bills

Mixed martial arts is a wonderful sport full of fun moments — like that time Michael ‘Venom’ Page knocked his opponent out with a flying knee and then threw a Poke-Ball at him. But it’s also very serious business with tons of potential health consequences — like when Page’s opponent Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos suffered a terrible skull fracture from that flying knee.

Evangelista’s former wife and fellow mixed martial artist Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino (yes, the one Ronda Rousey refuses to fight) has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for him, as the fracture has definitely taken him out of competition for the forseeable future and quite possibly forever. Fortunately, Cyborg’s medical bills won’t be coming out of these funds as Bellator has confirmed they will cover those costs themselves.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Cyborg throughout the many years that he has fought for us,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a statement to website MMAjunkie. “The guy brings it every single time out, and that’s all you can ask for from a fighter. That being said, you never want to see a fighter sustain an injury like that.”

“Bellator representatives have been present with him at the hospital throughout this process, and we are taking care of any medical bills that he incurs. In addition, we are going to go ahead and pay Cyborg his win bonus to help him find a little extra comfort throughout his recovery process, which we hope is a speedy one.”

Evangelista has been fighting for Scott Coker since 2009 with this being the third Bellator fight in 2016 for him. His last match was in California where purses are disclosed via athletic commissions and Evangelista made $17,000 in a heel hook loss to Saad Awad. Typically, a fighter’s win bonus doubles the amount they make (it’s called prize fighting for a reason), meaning Bellator will pay him out $34,000 for taking a potential career ending injury from rising star Page.

You can donate to Evangelista Cyborg Santos’ GoFundMe page right here. Here’s hoping there are no further complications and he makes a full recovery.

(via MMA Junkie)