UFC Fight Night 29 winner Yan Cabral says he was robbed at gunpoint

Yan Cabral could probably think of plenty of better ways to celebrate the biggest win of his career than what happened to him on Friday.

Cabral (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on Wednesday swept David Mitchell (12-4 MMA, 1-4 UFC) on the judges’ scorecards at UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil. On Friday, he was given a clean sweep of another kind when he was robbed at gunpoint not far from the Nova Uniao training center in Rio de Janeiro.

Cabral shared the news on his Facebook page, saying “Merda de pais” – “s–tty county” – and pointing to the MMA na Rede blog, which reported the news.

According to the report, Cabral was robbed by a pair of assailants on a motorcycle. The welterweight fighter said he was robbed of his backpack, which contained some training equipment – and money he had just withdrawn to pay MMA coach Andre Pederneiras, the head of Nova Uniao.

“I’ve lived in Rio for 15 years, and this never happened before,” Cabral said. “It was a big scare.”

On Wednesday, Cabral fought for the first time in more than two years when he made his UFC debut against Mitchell at UFC Fight Night 29, took place at Jose Correa Arena in Barueri, Sao Paulo, Brazil. It aired on FOX Sports 1. Cabral’s win over Mitchell was part of the preliminary card on that channel.

Cabral was a couple steps ahead of Mitchell in the grappling department all three rounds, and he picked up a trio of 30-27 scores to stay unbeaten.

Cabral was a cast member on the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.” He was one of the early favorites to win the show, but had to bow out early with an injury.

For more on UFC Fight Night 29, check out the UFC Events section of the site.