Carlos Ulberg is confident he won’t be on the shelf for long.
The New Zealand star’s UFC 327 light heavyweight championship celebration was followed by the unfortunate news that he had suffered an ACL tear in his right knee in the April 11 main event. In the first round of that contest, Ulberg was visibly hindered by a leg injury, but miraculously came back to knock out Jiri Prochazka and claim a vacant UFC title.
Ulberg has since undergone surgery for the torn ACL, an injury that typically puts an athlete on the shelf for at least nine months before they can even consider competing again. However, Ulberg hopes to be back sooner than expected.
“Working with the PI, the staff here have been amazing,” Ulberg said in a UFC interview. “Just real positive about the progress and the rehab. Yeah, it’s an ACL. We went into the surgery thinking, OK, this could be say between six to eight months or so, longer for some, but with the progress that we’ve got at the moment it’s only been a week now and we’re moving pretty good.
“I think we’ve got a good formula going and the body’s healing really fast. The doctors are happy, the staff are happy, it’s really nice to be able to work closely with the PI and get the treatment that I need to.”
Ulberg had a steady rise to the top after being signed off of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, losing his first UFC fight and then rattling off nine straight victories—including wins over former champion Jan Blachowicz and past title challengers Dominick Reyes and Volkan Oezdemir—to earn his spot in the UFC 327 vacant light heavyweight championship fight opposite Prochazka. With one perfectly timed punch, Ulberg made it 10 straight and exited Miami with gold around his waist.
He’s had to stick around in the United States, however, spending time at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas to focus on getting back in the octagon as soon as possible.
“In all, I think we’re just impressed that the surgery went well,” Ulberg said. “We’ve done it quickly and then got on to the rehab as soon as we could. I think it just comes down to the staff has just been on me about it. We’re doing two a day and I think we’ll be alright.”
Should Ulberg actually manage to defy expectations and return in early 2028, he points to his mental game above all else as to what will help him reach his goal.
“I think it just comes down to the mentality that I have and the belief that I know that I’m going to get there a lot quicker than anyone else,” Ulberg said.
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