Snap, Crackle, Pop: 10 Gnarly Injuries
Broken Bones
Did he or didn’t he win?
That’s the question surrounding Mark Coleman heading into this weekend’s sequel versus Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Their first meeting in a 2006 Pride event ended when Coleman swarmed in for a takedown: Rua lost his balance, posted his arm and promptly snapped it like a stale breadstick.
Whether or not Coleman beat Rua convincingly depends on your
attitude toward Rua’s tactical error. Some fans labeled it a fluke
accident; Coleman happily took the victory home.
However you feel about the outcome, there’s little question that catastrophic harm to bones, ligaments and organs is just another day at the arena in MMA. Excepting the recent Corey Hill leg injury -- out of respect for his ongoing recovery -- some of the sport’s most resonant in-ring fractures:
Breaking Point: Ankle (dislocation)
X-Ray: Little wonder Pancrase played host to so many lower-body submissions: Combatants wore thick padded boots to eliminate slippery limbs and grapplers could chance risky hooks without fear of getting their face bludgeoned. (Strikes to the face on the ground were verboten.)
All of this conspired heavily against jiu-jitsu stylist Goes, who held early positional advantages before Shamrock secured a lock and tore his ankle off its tendon hinges. Like most on this list, trauma that would have most of us catatonic just angered Goes, who went on to finish the bout -- a draw.
9. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (UFC 74, Aug. 25, 2007)
Breaking Point: Ulna bone
X-Ray: The biggest non-news item of the day: Randy Couture is a really, really tough guy.
Facing Moreau island castaway Gabriel Gonzaga in a heavyweight bout, Couture checked a kick with his forearm in the third round; it snapped the ulna bone in his left forearm. While not obvious on tape -- Couture just shakes his arm as though a mosquito had landed on it -- photos reveal a cringe-inducing break.
Couture’s attitude: There’s still one arm left. The champion grounded Gonzaga and pounded on him until he was politely asked to stop.
8. Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le (Strikeforce, March 29, 2008)
Breaking Point: Ulna bone
X-Ray: Apparently, blocking a high kick with only one arm is not the most sound of strategies. After engaging san shou stylist Le in a standing firefight, Shamrock absorbed Le’s shin one time too many, suffering a snapped ulna in his forearm. After one last bid to knock Le out -- one that nearly worked -- Shamrock waved off any further punishment.
By way of morbid footnote, that night he wound up at the same hospital as his wife: he for six-pin and steel plate surgery, she for the (false alarm) labor of their child.
7. Karo Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez (UFC Fight Night 6, Aug. 17, 2006)
Breaking Point: Tooth veneer
X-Ray: In a moment that will live in highlight reel infamy, Sanchez solved the frustration of clinching with judoka Parisyan by delivering a knee to Parisyan’s face that forced a piece of tooth enamel to go airborne.
After audiences “oooed” and “ahhhed” over the visual, Parisyan was quick to note that it was a veneer, not an actual tooth -- though somewhere, Teila Tuli is feeling slightly less embarrassed about that whole UFC 1 thing.
6. Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 10, Aug. 27, 2000)
Breaking Point: Left arm
X-Ray: Less a break than a milestone in freestyle combat, Japanese avenging hero Sakuraba hit the high note in his feud with the Gracies by executing the first-ever legitimate in-fight (excluding the corner stoppage over Royce) stoppage against the family in the modern era.
After nearly 30 minutes of competitive assault, Sakuraba locked in a standing kimura and held it throughout a clinch-to-mat scramble. The persistence snapped Gracie’s arm -- and the spell jiu-jitsu had held over fans since 1993.
That’s the question surrounding Mark Coleman heading into this weekend’s sequel versus Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Their first meeting in a 2006 Pride event ended when Coleman swarmed in for a takedown: Rua lost his balance, posted his arm and promptly snapped it like a stale breadstick.
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However you feel about the outcome, there’s little question that catastrophic harm to bones, ligaments and organs is just another day at the arena in MMA. Excepting the recent Corey Hill leg injury -- out of respect for his ongoing recovery -- some of the sport’s most resonant in-ring fractures:
10. Allan Goes vs.
Frank
Shamrock (Pancrase, May 13, 1995)
Breaking Point: Ankle (dislocation)
X-Ray: Little wonder Pancrase played host to so many lower-body submissions: Combatants wore thick padded boots to eliminate slippery limbs and grapplers could chance risky hooks without fear of getting their face bludgeoned. (Strikes to the face on the ground were verboten.)
All of this conspired heavily against jiu-jitsu stylist Goes, who held early positional advantages before Shamrock secured a lock and tore his ankle off its tendon hinges. Like most on this list, trauma that would have most of us catatonic just angered Goes, who went on to finish the bout -- a draw.
9. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (UFC 74, Aug. 25, 2007)
Breaking Point: Ulna bone
X-Ray: The biggest non-news item of the day: Randy Couture is a really, really tough guy.
Facing Moreau island castaway Gabriel Gonzaga in a heavyweight bout, Couture checked a kick with his forearm in the third round; it snapped the ulna bone in his left forearm. While not obvious on tape -- Couture just shakes his arm as though a mosquito had landed on it -- photos reveal a cringe-inducing break.
Couture’s attitude: There’s still one arm left. The champion grounded Gonzaga and pounded on him until he was politely asked to stop.
8. Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le (Strikeforce, March 29, 2008)
Breaking Point: Ulna bone
X-Ray: Apparently, blocking a high kick with only one arm is not the most sound of strategies. After engaging san shou stylist Le in a standing firefight, Shamrock absorbed Le’s shin one time too many, suffering a snapped ulna in his forearm. After one last bid to knock Le out -- one that nearly worked -- Shamrock waved off any further punishment.
By way of morbid footnote, that night he wound up at the same hospital as his wife: he for six-pin and steel plate surgery, she for the (false alarm) labor of their child.
7. Karo Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez (UFC Fight Night 6, Aug. 17, 2006)
Breaking Point: Tooth veneer
X-Ray: In a moment that will live in highlight reel infamy, Sanchez solved the frustration of clinching with judoka Parisyan by delivering a knee to Parisyan’s face that forced a piece of tooth enamel to go airborne.
After audiences “oooed” and “ahhhed” over the visual, Parisyan was quick to note that it was a veneer, not an actual tooth -- though somewhere, Teila Tuli is feeling slightly less embarrassed about that whole UFC 1 thing.
6. Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (Pride 10, Aug. 27, 2000)
Breaking Point: Left arm
X-Ray: Less a break than a milestone in freestyle combat, Japanese avenging hero Sakuraba hit the high note in his feud with the Gracies by executing the first-ever legitimate in-fight (excluding the corner stoppage over Royce) stoppage against the family in the modern era.
After nearly 30 minutes of competitive assault, Sakuraba locked in a standing kimura and held it throughout a clinch-to-mat scramble. The persistence snapped Gracie’s arm -- and the spell jiu-jitsu had held over fans since 1993.
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