Barnett/Cormier both break hands in 1st round of Grand Prix final
Cormier broke his right hand in the opening stanza of his five-round battle with the former UFC heavyweight champion. It…
Cormier broke his right hand in the opening stanza of his five-round battle with the former UFC heavyweight champion. It was the same hand he broke when he knocked out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in September in the tournament semifinals.
The former Olympic wrestler decided against surgery the first time around, which made for an eight-month stretch between his fights. This time, he wants to let it properly heal.
“I think this time I’m going to take a different approach,” Cormier said. “I think I’m going to have surgery on it and get it fixed, because I don’t want it to be recurring and then end up costing me later and later on down the line.”
Cormier never bothered telling his corner that he thought his hand was broken. Instead, the early injury forced him to improvise.
“You’re in a fight, you have to use all your weapons,” said Cormier. “That’s why I was kicking, I was punching, I was kneeing him in there. Josh is too good to fight handicapped. I don’t think my coaches picked up on [the injury] because I didn’t tell them. I just kept fighting.”
Josh Barnett (31-6 MMA, 2-1 SF) immediately went to the hospital after a grueling five-round fight that saw Daniel Cormier (10-0 MMA, 7-0 SF) earn a unanimous-decision victory to win the Strikeforce world heavyweight grand prix.
Barnett broke his left hand in the first round of the fight and had it set in a splint by a doctor, who said it was not a “spiral” break, manager Leland LaBarre told MMAjunkie.com early Sunday morning
An orthopedist now will determine the extent of the damage, after which the fighter and his rep will decide what’s next.
Update: Josh Barnett today tweeted a picture of his broken, and from the looks of it, I’m guessing this didn’t feel too good.
Here’s what happened in the first :30…still threw it though. Of course that might not have so wise LOL. http://twitpic.com/9nc4yk