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UFC 222 had many breakout moments - Brian Ortega becoming the first man to stop future Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar; Alexander Hernandez knocking Beneil Dariush out of the top 15 lightweight rankings; Ketlen Vieira keeping her undefeated streak intact against former titlist Cat Zingano and saving the best for last, "Sugar" Sean O'Malley willing his body to cash the cheque his mouth wrote and beating Andre Soukhamthath despite an excruciating foot injury.
The host of the Sugar Show had 2 rounds in his pocket was on track to beat Soukhamthath but he badly hurt his right foot in the 3rd round and was virtually on one leg from that point.
Agreed, Soukhamthath broke the stereotype that all Asians are super smart by taking O'Malley down when he should have let him stay on the feet, which he barely could, and the referee would've most likely stopped the fight and given "The Asian Sensation" the win via doctor stoppage.
What we saw instead was a 23-year-old O'Malley, showing that he had the one quality that can make or break a fighter, one that cannot be taught but must be learnt - heart. But this wasn't the first time we've been stunned by the intangible. Let's take a look at 5 other inspiring performances where fighters didn't let debilitating injuries deny them victory:
#5 Uriah Hall
Despite coming up short in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 17 after a stellar run on the show(which included what Dana White called the most vicious knockout he'd seen on the show), many thought Uriah Hall would be the next Anderson Silva.
He might not have fulfilled those lofty expectations, but Primetime has had his moments in the octagon and by that, we mean more than just jaw-dropping knockouts. One of those came against Brazilian powerhouse Thiago Santos at UFC 175.
Despite not winning The Ultimate Fighter, Dana White had signed Hall in the implausible hope that he would finish every one of his fights with a flashy knockout. Predictably disappointed, the UFC kingpin told media before Hall's UFC 168 bout with old warhorse Chris Leben that he would be cut from the UFC if he didn't deliver. Hall delivered emphatically by stopping the veteran, but he still wasn't out of danger.
In the first round of his UFC 175 tilt against Santos, Hall's second toe on his right foot was so badly broken that it was almost at a right angle to the rest of his toes.
For a fighter who depends on speed, spinning attacks and movement as much as Hall, this could have been a breakdown. But he shrugged it off, powered through to a decision win and gave one of the best post-fight speeches to have fallen on UFC fans' ears.
#4 Eddie Alvarez
In MMA, there are two kinds of fighters - those that fight to win and those that fight to fight. Rarely do we see a fighter who checks both boxes, one who doesn't back down from a scrap while making sure that victory doesn't escape him. Eddie Alvarez is one of those few who takes fans on an emotional rollercoaster ride with his slugfests while also becoming the 155 lbs king.
One of those blocking Alvarez's path to becoming the first man to hold belts in Bellator and UFC was former Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.
During the first round of their clash at UFC 188, Melendez broke Alvarez's nose and orbital bone with an elbow.
While walking back to his corner after the bell, Alvarez did the one thing that boxing legend George Foreman swears a fighter should never do between rounds - he blew his nose.
The resulting pressure sent the blood flooding into the damaged veins in the soft tissue surrounding his eye, which, being in tatters, couldn't retain the blood and forced his eye to swell shut.
In a later interview, Alvarez said that he had no idea how far the dangerous Melendez was from him. His heart racing, not just because of the predicament but also the 7000-foot altitude of Mexico City, Alvarez had to give it everything he had. His then coach, Henri Hooft, helped calm him down from the corner and Alvarez started using his takedowns to claw his way to a split decision win.
#3 Rich Franklin
There were many questions surrounding Chuck Liddell's career when he went into his UFC 115 bout with Rich Franklin with a 1-4 streak. The Iceman looked determined to shut his critics up as he landed good strikes in the opening round and had Franklin rocked in the final seconds. But as he moved in for the kill, Franklin cut loose a counter right hand that separated the legend from his senses.
During the official announcement, Franklin's left arm was held at an odd angle and in the post-fight interview, he admitted that it was broken while blocking a kick. When he heard the click as his forearm broke, Franklin's gameplan went up in smoke and he started swinging every time Liddell came close.
With 5 seconds left, one of those connections and Franklin snatched a win from the jaws of defeat. If the doctor had been called in to examine his arm in between rounds, the fight would certainly have been stopped. After the brutal knockout, Liddell closed the book on his legendary career while Franklin fought thrice more, losing twice and winning once.
#2 Forrest Griffin
On "The Forrest Griffin Story" on UFC Fight Pass, the Hall of Famer's mother, Kathryn, gave the most apt description of him - "a little crazy with a lot of heart".
While most of the public would see this when he and Stephen Bonnar threw down under the bright lights in a historic fight that reanimated the UFC, a couple of years before that, far away from the spotlight and a troupe of cameras, Griffin showed that he had genuine and endless grit in an unheralded performance against Edson Paredao.
In December 2003 in Natal, Brazil, under the HEAT FC banner, the two faced off in a fight where Griffin broke his left arm blocking a body kick from Paredao. He even escaped an armbar from the aggressive Brazilian and before the round ended, knocked him out with his right hand. In the video, you can clearly see Griffin cradling his left arm after the fight.
There is a lump on his forearm to this day because of the fracture. After the fight, it dawned on Griffin that he might be too tough for his own good and he actually quit MMA and went back to being a police officer.
It took a lot of cajoling from Dana White and the producers of TUF 1 to bring him out of retirement and it doesn't need telling that MMA fans will be forever indebted to Griffin for it.
#1 Conor McGregor
He may have broken the UFC record for most days without a title defence, but Conor McGregor's credentials as a fighter and the fact that he has paid a lot of dues are undeniable. In just his second UFC fight, he dominated current Featherweight Champion Max Holloway(the last loss on his record so far) and earned a unanimous decision win over the Hawaiian.
After the fight, it came to light that McGregor had torn his ACL and hurt his MCL and meniscus. He said that during the second round, he heard a big pop in his left knee and knew something was wrong. Having won the first to rounds and to avoid any further damage to it, McGregor controlled Holloway on the ground for the last round and sealed his win.
Almost a year passed before a fully fit McGregor set foot in the octagon again, but he made an emphatic return at UFC Fight Night 46, knocking out Diego Brandao in the main event and earning a performance bonus.
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