It has been over a year since Alan Jouban last competed, which was a split decision loss to Dwight Grant at UFC 236 in April of 2019.
Jouban has been out of action since that time with a knee injury, but he expects to be back in action by the end of this year.
“November 8 I think was my ACL,” Jouban told MMA Junkie. “I had an ACL meniscus and typically when you do an ACL, you’re looking at anywhere from six to nine months, so I’ll probably play it safe and go in the later half of that, towards the eight, nine-month mark, just to be safe, because new studies are showing now that people that come back too soon. Closer to the six-month mark they have a higher percentage of re-tearing it. To play it safe, and with everything going on, I’ll probably come back around the eight or nine-month mark which would put a return for me, if everything goes well, later this year around October, November.”
The fighter just signed a new contract with the UFC and he holds a 7-5-0 record in the promotion.
As far as the new contract goes, a returning Jouban says the deal with worth five fights in total.
“I ended up getting the contract renewal, which I knew would happen,” Jouban said. “I signed a five-fight deal with the UFC about a year ago so I’m happy with that. I really wanted to make a splash and get a big win, to go into renegotiations with some leverage. Obviously, that fight didn’t go my way. I felt I was pretty much robbed, but nonetheless, it didn’t go my way so I was upset about that because I wanted to ask for money.”
Whenever Jouban does return to action, it will end the longest layoff of his professional MMA career.
