Early in the second round of his recent UFC 130 fight with Miguel Torres, Demetrious Johnson threw a hard kick that was checked by his opponent.He instantly knew something was wrong but persevered and ultimately got a close decision victory.
But after returning to his day job and watching his limb massively swell, he went to the doctor earlier this week and got the bad news: It's broken.
"Yeah, the leg is broken," the ever-upbeat Johnson today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "The fibula bone is completely fractured.
"Once I kicked him and he checked it, I stepped back and heard crunch, crunch, crunch. I figured it might be broke."
Johnson first announced the confirmed diagnosis via his Twitter and Facebook accounts. "Mighty Mouse" accompanied it with an X-ray and a humorous photograph of him riding a motorized scooter.
"Never thought I would use one of these until I [was] 90," he wrote.
Johnson, a former WEC fighter who's now 2-0 in the UFC (which included a February win over Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto) and 10-1 overall, isn't calling it a setback. Instead, it'll force him to do something he wasn't doing on his own: resting and recovering.
Including a 2-1 run in the WEC, Johnson has fought six times in a little more than a calendar year. He'd like to stay active, which has includes a full-time job at a Caraustar recycling plant in Washington state. In fact, it was during that job – which is labor intensive – that he first realized his leg didn't have a typical fight-night injury.
"At work, I realized it," he said. "I'm a utility man. I drive the forklift, package boxes, operate machinery."
Hobbling around on one good leg, he went to the doctor, who confirmed the fracture and gave him a six- to eight-week recovery window. If things heal well, he could be walking within three weeks.
"So I'm loading up on calcium and drinking lots of milk," he said. "I'm on crutches right now.
"I don't see it as a setback. I'm going to let it heal. My body is fine, and my mind is sharp. I'm not letting the negative comments wear me down. It's not up to me what the judges decide."
Those "negative comments," of course, refer to his 29-28 decision win over Torres, which aired on Spike TV. The score was met with many boos on fight night, and they've continued since Saturday's event in Las Vegas. Torres remained active from his back, where Johnson often kept him, but it wasn't enough in the judges' eyes to earn the former champ victory. Instead, Johnson got the nod.
And though the fight admittedly was close, Johnson said it provided him a big confidence boost for his future bantamweight opponents.
"I like where I'm at," said Johnson, whom many have labeled a would-be-top contender if the UFC adopts a lighter 125-pound flyweight division. "I was 138 this morning. I was 140 for Miguel. My strength is not an issue. He's a big dude, and I was able to control him."
In the mean time, he's just anxious to get back in the cage, which expects to happen in about four months.
"(If) you ain't fighting, you ain't making money," he joked.
No comments:
Post a Comment