Issue 184

Battling through illness is tough enough, but try doing it with four-ounce gloves on...

Brock Lesnar vs Junior Dos Santos, Georges St Pierre vs Carlos Condit, Rashad Evans vs ‘Shogun’ Rua – all main events that promised fireworks, all showdowns that never took flight.

There has been a general feeling of frustration amongst fans recently due to the number of exciting matchups that have been scrapped due to sickness and injury. At the UFC 139 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White stated there has been a staggering 10 main event cancellations since Zuffa introduced their new health cover for fighters back in May last year. It’s a statistic that White finds hard to digest, let alone something he expects the fans to stomach.

Now, forums are ablaze with MMA diehards criticizing warriors for using this new healthcare plan to back out of contests with only minor injuries. 

Rewind to the days when Georges St Pierre was paying his own medical bills and fighting on smaller shows in his home of Quebec, Canada.

In his fourth professional contest against Californian Thomas Denny, GSP fought while suffering from a serious bout of illness.

He spoke about it at a Q&A in Toronto leading up to his UFC 129 title defense against Jake Shields, calling it “the toughest fight of [his] life.” According to Georges, heading into the second round he told his cornerman: “If I don’t knock out my opponent, I want you to throw in the towel.” His friend and trainer simply replied: “Georges, I don’t have a towel, you’re going to die in the ring.”

Fortunately for the athletically gifted Canadian, he was able to cut his opponent, causing the referee to stop the fight. Disaster averted. 

The GSP of today would not be so quick to take a fight under such sickly circumstances, but when you’re making seven figures per fight instead of just three then you can afford to play it a little safer.

But it’s not always about the money, and there is evidence to suggest the negative feelings of the fans may be a little premature.

After his 64-second KO victory of Cain Velasquez at UFC on Fox, newly-crowned heavyweight king Junior Dos Santos revealed that he had torn his meniscus in his left knee just 11 days before the fight.

If pulling out of a bout is the latest trend in MMA then clearly JDS didn’t get the memo, because ‘Cigano’ walked into the Octagon on November 12th with one good leg and took the UFC’s new network audience by storm. Dos Santos could very easily have put his own wellbeing first, but the enormity of the promotion’s network event plus the allure of UFC gold was enough to inspire Junior into giving the fans what they wanted to see.

If that isn’t proof enough, then consider also Dan Henderson’s most recent outing against ‘Shogun’ Rua. As with JDS, it wasn’t until after the fight that the true state of Henderson’s health was revealed.

According to his business partner, Aaron Crecy, in the week leading up to the fight: “He’d been ill throughout the week… He was having trouble breathing because he was so dehydrated.”

Not only did ‘Hendo’ fight despite his illness, but he and Shogun had one of the most exciting battles in MMA history, all for a potential shot at the 205lb title.

Fans need not fear. It seems that the days of fighters running on pure heart and determination are not over after all. There will always be people like Hendo and JDS who will fight for nothing but pride and glory, and for that we should be truly grateful.