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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
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A month ago in Dallas, Texas, Scotland's Rob Whiteford picked up his first UFC win, after suffering a loss in his short notice debut against Jimy Hettes late last year. However, Whiteford's win came at a price.
In an interview last week with YourMMA.TV, Whiteford revealed that he suffered some significant damage in his decision win over Daniel Pineda at UFC 171. Whiteford had to fight out of a nasty leg lock submission attempt during the fight, and while he managed to win the fight, he certainly paid for it.
"He got me in a bad position in the last round but I got kinda tired because I didn't stop moving for the whole fight," Whiteford admitted. "If you fight and you don't get tired, you're not working hard enough basically. I was working my arse off from the first bell and that's why I got tired. He eventually got on top of me and threatened with some submissions."
"...After the fight I had to go and get a scan on my knee and an X-Ray on my shin. I tore the meniscus on my knee and tore ligaments in my ankle. That's from the kneebar Daniel had on, and the heel hook. At the time I felt it pop and felt the warm fluid sensation rush into my knee, but I thought, 'You're going to have to break that to get me to tap.' There was no way I was ever tapping. It's four weeks rehab on the knee and ankle before I can get back to training. I've not got to twist on it or anything like that. So it's really just rest it up then get back to training and get fit again."
Whiteford even added some pictorial evidence on Twitter this week to show just what he's been dealing with:
The injury recovery is not expected to be lengthy based on his comments, and he said he's hoping for a return bout in June or July.
PENICK'S ANALYSIS: Clearly it takes something different inside a person to step into a cage on a consistent basis to fight for a living. It's why doctors and referees have the authority to halt fights, because it's quite obvious that most guys will fight through anything if they can, and sometimes need to be saved from themselves. Thankfully Whiteford's injuries aren't so serious as to keep him out for a significant amount of time, but they absolutely could have been.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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