Longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran Evangelista Santos suffered a fractured skull in his technical knockout loss to Michael Page at the Bellator 158 event earlier this month in London, England.

See the gnarly pic here.

As a result, “Cyborg” flew back to Houston, Texas, where he underwent a seven-hour surgery to make the necessary repairs. The good news is, the Brazilian avoided any complications and expects to return to the cage “soon.”

From his conversation with MMA Fighting:

"I had surgery yesterday, and thank God everything went fine. It lasted seven hours, and the hospital will give Bellator a full report later today. God guided the doctors in this surgery so everything went well. They didn’t tell me anything about timetable for recovery yet. I’ll be released from hospital today, and then they will tell me how long it will take. But it will be fast. I’ll be back soon."

I admire his optimism.

Santos (21-18) turns 39 later this year and despite his unyielding zeal, will have a long road back to combat sports. Not only will he need to be medically cleared to get punched in the head, “Cyborg” will have to get an athletic commission to rubber stamp his license.

With 12 knockouts in 18 losses, that won’t be as easy as it sounds.