UFC: Karolina Kowalkiewicz suffering from double vision and requires surgery after Yan Xiaonan loss
- Kowalkiewicz tells fans she broke ‘small bones’ around her eye socket and requires surgery
- The Polish strawweight reveals she had double vision after the first round of Yan fight – ‘everything was in the fog’
Polish strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz reveals she could not see through one eye and requires surgery following her loss at UFC Fight Night 168.
The 34-year-old Kowalkiewicz (12-6), who lost to China’s Yan Xiaonan (12-1, 1 NC) via unanimous decision in a women’s strawweight bout in Auckland, posted a solemn video message on Instagram addressing her next moves.
“Hi guys, thank you for your support. First time in my life, after fight I cannot say I’m OK,” she said with her right eye covered in medical gauze. “Like you see, in the beginning of the first round, I [broke] small bones [around my eye], and the eye nerves start there. I couldn’t see nothing, my vision was double, and everything was like in the fog.
“Yesterday after fight I spent the whole day in hospital, today I go to specialist and they make the decision, because I need operation and I am waiting for a decision here. Or I can [go] back to Poland and make this operation in Poland. But the doctor said I have to stay here because flying with this eye is very dangerous,” she said, presumably still in Auckland.
Kowalkiewicz suffered her fourth loss in a row in the UFC, putting her 2-6 since a title challenge against compatriot Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2016.
She did not say when she would return nor whether the UFC have offered to renew her contract.