The Ultimate Fighting Championship's Fight for the Troops event last night was a good show for a good cause, and the UFC deserves to be commended for putting it on. But it also must be said that the show was marred by nasty endings to three of the 10 fights.The worst of the three didn't make the TV broadcast. During an undercard fight, Corey Hill kicked Dale Hartt, and when Hill's shin connected, it snapped. It's one of the most horrific injuries I've seen, and I worry that the tall and lanky Hill -- a fighter I've always liked -- may never fight again. UFC.com has the video, but I urge you not to watch it if you're squeamish. It's really disgusting.
The second was a nasty arm injury suffered by Razak Al-Hassan, who inexplicably didn't tap out when Steve Cantwell got him in an arm bar. Al-Hassan's arm bent in a way that arms are not supposed to bend.
And the third was Josh Koscheck's knockout punch of Yoshiyuki Yoshida in the main event. Yoshida was out cold, and according to the UFC, he was carried out of the Octagon on a stretcher and then treated and released at a hospital.
Zach Arnold writes that more information should have been given during the TV broadcast about the injured fighters' condition, and I agree. MMA is a safer sport than boxing or football, but competitors do get injured sometimes, and when those injuries happen, we need to deal with them head-on, and not just close our eyes to them.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-11-2008 @ 11:43AM
Sean said...
First and foremost, as a veteran I appreciate the UFC for putting together the event and helping such a noble cause. I thought Mike Goldman put it quite well "...there is no tapping out or referees on the field of battle...UFC is a tough sport but it is entertainment."
I thought there were some great fights and a lot of heart displayed; however, there is two issues to be addressed. I have trained in MMA and have been an athlete my whole life - I know there is a rush of adrenaline after a match but Cantrell showed no class after the arm bar injury. Obviously each fighter goes in there to put the stamp on each other but some level of humility is expected -especially from a former WEC champ. I just thought it was low class to brag about breaking his arm.
Secondly, fire that loser referee Donnie Jessup - - he unnecessarily inhibited the fight between Bruno/Rees (?) and made stupid comments like "...keep moving guys" when they were. More importantly, that inexperienced loser of a referee failed to stop the fight quickly and protect Cory Hill when his leg was broke. I hate to sharpshoot but he sucks and needs to officiate badmitton or something.
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12-11-2008 @ 4:31PM
Stephen said...
I couldn't agree more. In both of those fights Donnie Jessup was horrific. He stopped the Bruno/Rees fight after Bruno had Rees' back...seriously that is nearly as bad as restarting a fight after one guy gets full mount and starts throwing punches. He sounded like a complete idiot telling them to "do something" when they were clinched and active against the cage. Listening to Joe Rogan talk during that fight about the ref mirrored my thoughts exactly.
Also, during the Cory Hill fight, he was in a perfect position to see Hill's leg while Hill was scrambling back and away, and he should have stopped the fight then and there. At least Hartt only jumped into side control and didn't do anything with it, and Cory was able to tie him up a little bit and I can only assume was calling for the fight to be stopped. I was really glad that Hartt didn't start throwing bombs at Cory while he was defenseless there. Meanwhile the ref meandered over to the two fighters and stood there doing nothing until finally the shouts of the ringside officials and announcers, along with what looked like Hill's verbal submission, got through and he stopped the fight. After Hartt got, the ref still looked confused and had no idea what the hell was going on. Fighters need competent refs to protect them when stuff like this goes down, and Jessup is not a competent ref. New line of work imo.
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