Nikolas Motta underwent jaw surgery after a fight with Nazim Sadykhov at UFC Baku, where he suffered a knockout loss and earned a $100,000 bonus, discovering a cyst from a wisdom tooth had weakened his jaw.
Nikolas Motta recently had to undergo surgery after a grueling battle with Nazim Sadykhov at UFC Baku, Azerbaijan. Both fighters snagged $100,000 bonuses for the night’s best fight, but Motta returned home with a second-round knockout loss and a fractured jaw.
“I think early in round two, I got hit with a cross and felt, ‘F*ck, that one hurt,’” Motta shared with MMA Fighting. He noticed his tooth moving and thought it was broken. Post-fight exams revealed two jaw fractures.
Motta was supposed to head back to Thailand for training but detoured to Las Vegas to see a specialist. Turns out, a cyst from a wisdom tooth made his jaw weaker, leading to the break.
“It sucked, I couldn’t chew anything,” Motta laughed. So, off to Vegas for surgery he went.
Motta’s got three more wisdom teeth to pull out soon, then it’s back to training. Recovery for the jaw is about eight weeks, while the tooth extraction will need a week off.
“They put a titanium plate in,” Motta explained. Rafael dos Anjos even sent him an X-ray of his own titanium-filled face, encouraging Motta by saying, “I still became champion after that.”
Motta jokes he’s like “The Terminator” now, appreciating the $100,000 bonus during his downtime. Before the fight, he asked his coach if he needed to share the bonus. His manager later joked, “Motherf*cker, Motta got me.”
He wishes he’d left UFC Baku with a win but thinks the bonus might not have been as hefty. Coming off a two-fight win streak, he felt free to perform without job security worries.
“I’m too f*cking competitive, we always want to win,” Motta admitted. But he realized that focusing too much on outcomes can hinder performance. Letting go of that anxiety helped him fight freely.