Josh Emmett’s decision victory over Shane Burgos in an instant-classic featherweight fight at UFC On ESPN 11 last weekend now looks even more impressive after the full extent of the knee injury he suffered early in the bout has been revealed.
Early in the opening round of the fight Emmett’s leg could be seen buckling and then he clutched at his knee a couple of times before getting back to fighting at a ferocious pace.
It’s now known that Emmett had actually just suffered a complete tear of his ACL, a partial MCL tear, a fracture of his femur and damaged cartilage.
In other words, he had a severe knee injury that is likely going to take a long time to recover from, yet it would have been hard to tell that was the case for most of the fight as Emmett gave everything he had during an intense back-and-forth battle that what would immediately afterwards be hailed as a ‘Fight Of The Year’ candidate.
With that in mind it’s unfortunate that he won’t be able to capitalize on the momentum he’s built thanks to his victory as he’s now likely to be on the sidelines for quite some time.
Nevertheless, when he does return his opponents will now know that not only is he one of the hardest hitters around in the lighter weight classes, but he’s also one of the toughest too.
