Conor McGregor’s ankle break, gruesome Chris Weidman leg snap, Bellator star’s busted nose… the most horrific MMA injuries in 2021
There’s no sport quite like mixed martial arts and that goes for the glory and the pain.
When the best combat sport athletes in the world collide, dangerous fighters are capable of seriously hurting their opponents. In 2021, we saw that on more than one occasion.
Below are the top five hands-over-your-eyes injuries in MMA this year.
WARNING: Some of the images are not for the faint-hearted!
Chris Weidman vs Uriah Hall 2
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman took on Uriah Hall for the second time in his career at UFC 261 in April, but it didn’t last long.
Just 17 seconds into the fight, Weidman threw his first kick at Hall and it immediately snapped his tibia. Everyone in the arena knew it; the bone breaking was like a shotgun going off and Weidman fell back in agony.
Hall, a stern-faced competitor at the best of times, turned away in horror. It was the worst kind of poetry as Anderson Silva had broken his leg against Weidman some eight years prior.
It hasn’t been easy for the American during recovery. Although he started doing some light training just three months later, Weidman would have to have further surgery on the leg after his bones failed to heal properly.
Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 3
This will be the most famous entry on this list by a country mile.
The MMA box office king, Conor McGregor, broke his leg to signal the end of his fight with Dustin Poirier.
McGregor and Poirier had a heated trilogy of fights that was meant to culminate at UFC 264 in July, but with McGregor breaking his leg off a simple kick - like Chris Weidman - nothing feels resolved.
McGregor had lost the first round against Poirier, but when he finally got to his feet for the closing seconds, a front-kick connected with Poirier’s elbow and the Irishman was cooked.
The Notorious is set to return to training properly in January, but it was barely a month before the UFC’s first-ever double champion was lifting weights again.
Mystic Mac said he knew his leg would break at UFC 264 as he had suffered a bad injury in training camp heading into the fight, but following the surgery he got the day after UFC 264, he says his metal leg feels stronger than ever.
Jamahal Hill vs Paul Craig
Paul Craig is a bad, bad man on the mat and the Scot showed what happens if you don’t tap in the octagon at UFC 263 in June.
Whilst attempting to go for a triangle choke, Craig was able to swivel and secure an armbar. Hill did not tap, not even when his arm snapped and became floppy in Craig’s vice-like grip.
To finish the fight, Craig had to rain down elbows and punches to the stricken Hill and finally, mercifully, the referee stopped the bout.
Hill suffered a dislocated elbow as a result, but he was back in action at the start of December and secured a first-round knockout of Jimmy Crute on his return.
Tony Ferguson vs Beneil Dariush
Everybody knows Tony Ferguson is one of the pound-for-pound toughest men in the UFC, but it was staggering the pain he endured against Beneil Dariush at UFC 262 on May 16.
Ferguson, who had a 12-fight win streak in UFC not so long ago, had already been on a bad run after being beaten up by Justin Gaethje and then dominated on the ground by Charles Oliveira. Dariush found the same success Oliveira did on the mat and worked Ferguson over fo three rounds.
During a scramble on the ground, Ferguson found himself in a leg lock. Now, El Cucuy is not the type to tap. It’s just not going to happen. But, if his face could have tapped for him, it would have because that man was in serious pain.
Dariush cranked hard on the leg and Ferguson’s knee looked like it popped. He later said it was just a sprain, but during the contest, Ferguson could barely move as he battled until the end.
Derek Anderson vs Michael Venom Page
Back in May, MVP, one of the biggest names Bellator has, competed against Derek Anderson and when the doctor ends the fight, it’s normally bad.
In a first round where Anderson struggled to get near Page, he finally managed to get the Englishman against the cage and pin him down for a while.
Once MVP got free, he sent a lightning fast question mark kick that Anderson simply couldn’t see coming and his nose was plastered all over his face.
The doctor would stop the fight at the end of the first round after seeing just how bad the damage was and Anderson hasn’t fought since.