02-08-2008, 03:14 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Fighter of the Night Man
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Matt Arroyo Interview
Exclusive Interview Part I: Matt Arroyo Talks behind the Scenes on TUF - MMAFightLine.com
Here's the part about Rib-gate...
Quote:
MMAFightLine.com: Your pivotal moment on the show was when you got a rib injury and had to drop out of the semifinals. During that episode you previously had said in interviews you were at the mercy of editors and it was pretty obvious that you had a bad rib injury. Do you think that the show adequately portrayed what was happening?
Arroyo: It was a weird situation because there were certain things that happened that not everybody knows, and they didn’t show certain things that happened. I went to one doctor. The doctor that I went to wasn’t the UFC doctor, Dr. Saunders -- the guy that checks everybody that gets hurt. He checked Ben’s nose, Barrera’s hand, in the very beginning he was the guy that was checking Roman. He was out of town the weekend that I got hurt. So when I went to the doctor, it was a completely different doctor and nobody saw it because it wasn’t filmed.
Spike didn’t want to force anyone to sign a release to be on TV and for that reason it wasn’t filmed. When I went to him, the only other person that was with me was a Spike TV representative. So it was just us 2, and the doctor had no clue that I was fighter, and no clue that I was on a TV show -- he just thought I was a regular guy going in with his friend and he checked it. He said, “Matt there is a small crack in the rib.” I knew it was hurting and there was something wrong. So then when we got back, I told my team, and I told Matt Serra and I think they filmed it and showed it. It shows me talking to Dana and then I guess they sent the X-rays over to Dana’s guy, Dr. Saunders, and he said the rib was fine. So that is the whole thing.
MMAFightLine.com: So, Dr. Saunders never looked at your rib?
Arroyo: No, I’ve never even met the guy. I’ve never even seen him. I don’t know if he sent the X-rays over or what. I know they wanted that fight to happen. I know with Roman – he hadn’t even fought, so there was no loss telling him to go home with a broken elbow. Now, Roman in the semifinals – would that be any different? I don’t know.
MMAFightLine.com: Dana made some controversial comments about you withdrawing from the fight. Do you think those comments were based on what Dr. Saunders was telling him about your injury?
Arroyo: That is exactly what it was based on. So they didn’t show any of that, but they do show it now on the repeats. They show a phone call from Dr. Saunders to Dana talking about the X-ray. Next time that they are going to air that is on April 2nd when TUF 7 debuts. They are going to have a marathon all day and in that episode they are going to show what happens or so I hear. Then it will make a lot more sense why Dana was being a jerk because I got a lot of e-mails saying: “I can’t believe Dana would say that about you when your rib was cracked. What are you supposed to do?” And I knew the whole story but they didn’t so I was like whatever. It’s just a weird thing; you never know what really is going on especially with the way they edit. Who knows? Maybe the first doctor saw something and the second doctor didn’t, but I know how I felt.
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