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#4. Rich Franklin – broken arm vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 115
Renowned as one of the toughest fighters of his generation, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin suffered plenty of injuries during his tenure with the promotion. Undoubtedly the wildest one came in his clash with Chuck Liddell in 2010.
Franklin only took the fight with ‘The Iceman’ on late notice following the withdrawal of Tito Ortiz. While Liddell had spent over a year on the shelf following a pair of bad knockout losses, he looked to be in his best shape for a long time.
Sure enough, the former light heavyweight kingpin came out on the offensive from the off as the fight began, launching violent strikes at Franklin. That included a vicious kick that ‘Ace’ appeared to have blocked with his arm.
The only problem was that while he blocked the kick, Liddell had thrown it with such force that it’d snapped Franklin’s left arm. After the bout, ‘Ace’ stated that he could feel the broken bone “clicking” and that with the arm essentially useless, he knew he simply had to keep swinging to see what would happen.
Incredibly, as Liddell continued to push the pace, closing Franklin down with a flurry against the fence, he dropped his hands for a second. That allowed ‘Ace’ to throw a clean counter right hand that connected directly to the jaw.
‘The Iceman’ fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious immediately, ending his UFC career for good. Franklin, meanwhile, headed directly to the hospital to have his broken arm fixed and it was another eight months before he would fight again.
#3. Demetrious Johnson – broken leg vs. Miguel Torres at UFC 126
We’ve seen broken legs end the night for UFC fighters on numerous occasions, including in major fights involving stars like Chris Weidman, Anderson Silva and Conor McGregor. Naturally, it isn’t the kind of injury fighters can usually push through.
However, in his second octagon appearance in 2011, future flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson not only managed to survive a broken fibula, but also managed to gut out a remarkable victory in the process.
‘Mighty Mouse’ was hardly faced with an easy opponent, too. Fighting at 135 pounds, he was matched with former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, a fighter who was hoping to claim a shot at the newly-created UFC bantamweight title later in the year.
During the fight, it wasn’t easy to tell that Johnson had suffered an injury at all. He displayed his trademark quick striking skills, slick takedowns and excellent top control. While it was debatable as to whether he deserved the nod from the judges, it was an excellent performance.
Only after the fight did ‘Mighty Mouse’ reveal that he’d suffered a serious injury, though. He stated that in the second round, he’d thrown a kick that Torres had checked and when he stepped back, he’d heard “crunching”.
Sure enough, it was revealed in a scan that Johnson had completely fractured his fibula, meaning he’d somehow been able to gut out the victory over Torres on one leg.
The win was enough to net Johnson a shot at the bantamweight title, but he had to wait five months for it, giving him enough time to rehab his injury in the process.
