Sam Alvey reveals injury that forced him out of UFC fight with ‘Shogun’ Rua

Sam Alvey won’t be fighting Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC Sao Paulo, and now we know why. The light heavyweight veteran, who was booked to compete in Brazil on Nov. 16, revealed on his social media that he has fractured his left hand in training.

“I broke my hand the other day in practice, punched the guy in the head and it wasn’t a good punch,” Alvey said in a video he posted on his Instagram page. “Maybe it was a great punch? Nah, he’s fine, he’s fine, so it wasn’t that good of a punch. Unfortunately, I have to pull out of my fight with ‘Shogun.’ It’s heartbreaking. Hand breaking and heart breaking.

“It’s a fight I’ve wanted my whole career. He’s just such, such an incredible athlete, such an incredible fighter. I was excited to share the Octagon with him. I’m so sorry ‘Shogun’ for you and your team. I don’t mean to do this to you. Whoever they get to replace me I hope you win that fight, then you and I can run it back. We’ll make it a great one someday. Good luck on the rest of your camp, my friend. Everyone else, I’m going to heal as fast as I can, I’ll be back in that Octagon as fast as I can be. Thank you for all your support.”

The UFC has yet to find another opponent for Rua, sources told MMA Fighting. The former UFC and PRIDE champion was last seen in the Octagon in Dec. 2018, knocking out Tyson Pedro in the third-round of their light heavyweight bout in Adelaide, Australia.

Headlined by Jan Blachowicz vs. “Jacare” Souza, UFC Sao Paulo airs live on ESPN+ from Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera gymnasium.

Jan Blachowicz vs. Ronaldo Souza
Mauricio Rua vs. TBD
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Antonio Arroyo vs. Andre Muniz
Markus Perez vs. Wellington Turman
Sergio Moraes vs. James Krause
Ricardo Ramos vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Bobby Green
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Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Renan Barao
Ariane Lipski vs. Priscila Cachoeira
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