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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
In another wrinkle to last night's WSOF 14 event, apparently headliner Ryan Ford fought Jake Shields with a broken arm.
In a video he posted just before the event, which was apparently recorded on Oct. 2, Ford revealed that he broke his arm in training, but that he was going through with the fight anyway.
"Today is Oct. 2, Thursday. Part of this game is putting your body through hard work. And unfortunately, two days ago, on Tuesday, at the end of sparring, I broke my arm," Ford said in the video (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "I found that out yesterday after seeing the doctor for my X-ray results."
"You know, I don't have a choice but to fight. You know, it's funny. I have the toughest challenge ahead of me on Oct. 11 against Jake Shields. And now I get thrown with another challenge: fighting him with a broken arm."
Ford ultimately lost the fight, getting submitted by Shields in the first round to close out the event.
Penick's Analysis: The commission in Alberta should be having a conversation with Ford if the injury wasn't disclosed ahead of time. On the other hand, if they knew about it and let him fight anyway, that's grossly negligent on their part. Fighters continuously seem to think it's the "tough guy" thing to do to fight with an injury like this, but it's endangering themselves and their career further. It's sad that Ford was in a spot where he felt he needed the payday so badly that he'd fight through an injury like that, and it's an issue for those outside of the UFC who don't have the accidental injury insurance that they've put together for the roster. Even then, while the medical issues are covered, missing out on paydays because of injury obviously hurts as well. But we can't just be letting fighters compete with broken bones suffered before a bout even begins.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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