Former UFC star Mateus “Bocão” Mendonça has learned a painful lesson about protective gear in training, suffering a penile fracture during a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu session that required emergency surgery and will sideline him for at least two months.
The incident occurred during what seemed to be a routine training session in Maranhão, Brazil, where Mendonça was visiting family. During his second roll of the day, he received an accidental knee strike to his groin while attempting a guard pass. Though he initially continued training after the initial pain subsided, complications emerged a month later, leading to emergency surgery.
“I felt an incredible amount of pain and ran to the bathroom. It started to burn. But then the pain went away and I kept going,” Mendonça explained to AGFight. “When I was already in São Paulo, a month later, training normally, without pain, I started to notice some problems. I started to move and there was a lump.”
The injury has prompted Mendonça to advocate for increased safety measures in training, though this stance highlights an ongoing debate in the BJJ community. While cups are mandatory in MMA competitions, they are actually prohibited in International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) tournaments due to potential risks to opponents. The hard plastic material can provide unfair mechanical advantages in submission attempts.
Still, a protective cup seems like a great idea considering the likelihood of accidents in BJJ and their potential long-term repercussions to your reproductive organs. While some opt for flimsy default cups, a number of BJJ stars wear a Diamond cup—an enforced cup that will protect you from this type of situation.
Despite these competition regulations, Mendonça is firm in his new stance regarding personal training: “From now on, I won’t train without a cup anymore. You have to be careful. It doesn’t hurt, it prevents accidents, it prevents a lot of things. Almost no one has the habit of training with a cup, they only wear it when they’re going to fight. I’m going to tell everyone now: wear a cup in any situation.”
The injury comes at a particularly challenging time for the star, who is currently living in São Paulo with his family and supplements his income by teaching jiu-jitsu. Unable to work during his recovery, Mendonça has organized a raffle of UFC memorabilia to help cover his expenses.
A member of the prestigious Chute Boxe Diego Lima team, Mendonça earned his UFC contract through the Contender Series in September 2022. Though his UFC stint ended after three losses, he recently returned to winning ways with a submission victory at Centurion FC 23 in October. The star hopes to resume his career path back to the UFC following his recovery, though his immediate focus is on healing and raising awareness about training safety.
