Despite knee injuries, Mark Munoz inks new four-fight deal with UFC

UFC middleweight Mark Munoz isn’t going anywhere, even if it’ll be a while before he returns.

Despite a 1-3 record his past four fights, and a knee injury in his most recent loss, Munoz (13-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), 36, has signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC. The fighter on Thursday announced the deal on multiple social media platforms. The UFC later confirmed the news.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed beyond a contract for four more fights.

Munoz suffered a grade 3 tear in his left MCL and a strained ACL in his loss to Gegard Mousasi (35-4-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 41 less than two weeks ago. Mousasi stopped Munoz with a first-round submission, marking the first time “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” had to tap out in a fight.

Munoz’s injuries will require a likely lengthy rehab before he is able to return to action. But when he does, it will be with the UFC.

After starting his UFC career 7-2, Munoz was brutally stopped by Chris Weidman in July 2012. After a year off, he returned and beat Tim Boetsch at UFC 162 in July 2013. But in back-to-back main events in Europe, he was stopped with a head kick by Lyoto Machida in October in England, then tapped out by Mousasi in Berlin this past month.

Still, after the loss to Mousasi, before he knew what his injuries were, he said he would return.

“You’ve just go to pick up the pieces and keep going,” Munoz said at the post-event press conference. “It was a tough loss, but I think it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, but it’s how many times you pick yourself back up after a loss or a failure.

“So that’s what I’ll do.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 41, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.