Jamie Varner broke his ankle early in the first round of his fight with James Krause tonight at UFC 173, but remarkably he hung in there for the rest of the five minute period before finally admitting defeat.
Round One:
Krause with a missed leg kick to start the fight. Varner presses forward with a short flurry of punches that don’t find the mark either.
Krause with a couple of leg kicks and then a right hand over the top that lands. Krause taps Varner’s face with a front kick and follows up with punches.
Varner trying to press forward wtih strikes. A kick from Krause and Varner stumbles awkwardly and it may be that he hurt his foot there, but after falling to the mat he he gets back upright.
Krause pouring on the pressure and There’s definitely something wrong with Varner’s foot. He tries to swing for the fences and gets the fight to the ground.
Varner trying to make the best of a bad situation here and he’s definitely better off on the mat given his injury. There’s some scrambling action as they jockey for position, and unfortunately for him they go back to the feet.
Varner shows sheer guts to come out swinging, looking to end this fight any way he can, but his foot keeps giving out from under him, and now Krause is specifically landing hard kicks low to that leg.
Grim stuff and it’s somewhat of a relief to hear the bell sound and surely this fight has to be stopped. Thankfully Varner seems to have come to that conclusion himself and stays down on the mat, telling the referee that he’s broken his ankle.
His corner come in and confirm that the fight is over, so Krause gets the TKO Victory at 5.00mins of Rd1 and while Varner may now have lost three in a row, his gutsy display her tonight may grant him a stay of execution.
