The conversation surrounding the UFC these days is usually about money. Pay-per-views are down. Fighters head to Twitter to complain about their pay. And you sit there scarfing down chips while you watch an illegal stream. Ryan Braun had an illegal stream, but that was totally different.
Maybe you don’t care how much fighters are paid and just love seeing knockouts — and the occasional freakish injury. We’ve got those for you. Here are some of the Most Gruesome MMA Injuries of All-Time. And we mean that. So you’ve been warned. If you spit Spaghetti-o’s all over your keyboard, that’s on you, although you still made a solid lunchtime choice. Spaghetti-o’s are an all-timer.
8. Johny Hendricks
Let’s start with the latest injury. Johny Hendricks — whose mother must have been very tired after giving birth, since she opted for just one n — recently defeated Robbie Lawler to win the UFC welterweight championship. It didn’t come without some bodily destruction. Not to Lawler, he was fine. But Hendricks not only fractured his shin in the fight, he actually tore his biceps. Looks like some wings I just finished.
(Photo: Ted Ehrhardt via MMA Fighting)
7. Angela Magana
Angela Magana is a veteran MMA fighter who got started in the sport due to her grappling background. Her opponent suffered a freak injury during a grappling match. Her scream is haunting, and the sound of the injury is just horrific. It’s at this point I’m wondering why I took this assignment.
6. Joey “The Real” Diehl
Joey “The Real” Diehl is a pro fighter from the Chicago area who has fought in Bellator, but fights mostly for the XFO. At XFO 41, Diehl suffered the gash of all gashes. Someone commented that it looks like his eyebrow exploded. As I wrote at the time for Chicago’s MMA, It looks kind of like a fishing lure. Or the Rolling Stones logo. It’s kind of like looking at a cloud — stare at it long enough and you come up with all these different things.
(Photo via Facebook/suckerpunch)
5. Kajan Johnson
You can throw out the record books when the great rivalry of Canada vs. Australia comes together. Amirite? In this clip from “TUF Nations: Canada vs. Australia,” Kajan Johnson takes a vicious right hand that breaks his jaw. Johnson later told MMA Junkie, “I just woke up on the ground on my hands and knees with blood leaking from my face. I knew right away that my jaw was broken.”
4. Muay Thai shin snap
Muay Thai is a combat sport also known as “The Art of the Eight Limbs” as fighters use not only punches and kicks, but vicious knees and elbows. Leg kicks can be particularly brutal. Fighters often land violent leg kicks where shin meets shin. And sometimes one shin loses. And snaps. Like in this fight.
3. Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva is arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever. If you know anything at all about MMA or the UFC, you’ve heard of him. He’s simply the most dynamic and effective striker the sport has ever seen, as well as the most exciting. He went almost seven years without losing a fight until he got knocked out after clowning around against Chris Weidman Silva was granted an immediate rematch. Unlike the clip above, Silva is the one hurt when he throws the kick.
2. Briggs’ elbow
Here’s an example of why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is extremely effective, even when you have someone on top of you pounding away at your face. In Yelussizov vs. Briggs, Briggs is going to work when Yelussizov traps his arm with a triangle, pulls his legs down and completely dislocates Briggs’ elbow.
(Click pic to view video)
1. Wayne Brown
Wayne Brown is a name most of you aren’t familiar with. An English fighter that fought in the UCMMA, Brown was scheduled to fight Khalid Ismail. In the pre-fight clip, Brown said that he’d been training hard for the fight and no one was going to stop him. But before the “Round 1” graphic even leaves the screen, Brown suffers a horrible leg injury. This one’s not really about what you see, but what you hear. Sadly, Brown never fought again.