It’s no secret that MMA is a grueling sport. Injuries occur everywhere from the training room to the cage, and sometimes even beyond that.
Injuries can cause the best set plans to fall by the wayside, derail careers or worse. Still, though, the overwhelming majority of fighters in the sport overcome their physical setbacks and eventually find their way back to competition.
Below, MMAjunkie tracks the latest in notable MMA injuries, including the latest on the UFC middleweight champion, as well as multiple other notables across several weight classes.
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- Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) had successful right hand surgery on Thursday after suffering a break in his split-decision win over Yoel Romero at UFC 225. A typical timeframe for the UFC middleweight champ’s recovery is between six and eight weeks.
- Tim Elliott (15-8-1 MMA, 4-6 UFC) had successful surgery on his right knee on Thursday. The former flyweight title challenger tore his ACL and is expecting at least a year between fights after winning his most recent bout at UFC 219 in December.
- Charles Rosa (11-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) says he’s nearly completely recovered from his neck surgery in January. The injury forced him to withdraw from a scheduled UFC 220 bout against Dan Ige, and now the UFC featherweight hopes to get a fight booked before the end of the year.
- Rashad Coulter (8-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC) suffered a broken right hand in his knockout loss to Chris De La Rocha at UFC 225. The heavyweight, who says he’ll be moving down to light heavyweight for his next fight, will have surgery on Wednesday and expects to be sidelined between six and eight weeks.
- Kaytlin Neil (1-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has overcome a nasty eye infection that prevented her from training or competing. She says it’s cleared up and hopes to book a fight
- Claudia Gadelha (16-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has scheduled knee surgery for next week. The UFC strawweight contender hurt the knee prior to her UFC 225 victory over Carla Esparza, but said she sustained even more damage to it in the fight.
- Matt Brown (21-16 MMA, 14-10 UFC), who is already on the mend after getting surgery earlier this year for a torn ACL, will require surgery on a lingering ankle injury diagnosed as bad cartilage and stress fractures. The welterweight veteran said it will take four months of rehabilitation before he can even think about moving forward with his fighting career.
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