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UFC Fighter Details How Horribly Messed Up His Knee Was in Victory

In Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: a UFC fighter destroyed his knee and still won his fight, NASCAR rallies around Bubba Wallace and more.

Dan Gartland

How can you even walk after something like this?

Josh Emmett picked up a convincing unanimous-decision victory over Shane Burgos at Saturday’s UFC event in Las Vegas. It’s made even more impressive by what Emmett revealed on Monday.

The bout really did a number on Emmett’s knee. He tweeted a list of the five injuries he suffered, including a complete tear of his ACL. 

The crazy thing is Emmett knew he had torn his ACL just 15 seconds into the fight. He said as much during his post-fight interview. 

The injury forced Emmett to change his gameplan for the fight, he told ESPN. Emmett told MMAFighting.com’s Damon Martin that he was unable to put any weight on the bum knee. 

And yet he still lasted all three five-minute rounds, and performed well enough to earn a decisive victory over Burgos. 

Incredibly, Emmett’s manager told MMAFighting.com that he may try to recover from the injury without surgery. I mean, if he won a fight immediately after blowing out his knee, maybe ACLs are overrated. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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