WARNING: Graphic imagery ahead.
UFC 261 is brutal.
I’ve never been a fan of MMA. Be it UFC, Pride FC, One FC or whathaveyou FC…MMA fights are kind of boring to me. Somehow, the majority always devolve to two sweaty men straddling one another on the ground trying to pound each other’s face in.
I appreciate the technique and skill these fighters have (no doubts whatsoever I’d be K.O.ed in one hit from any of them…even the ladies) but most of the fights don’t have the theatricality or bombastic violence that I can get from other fighting sports like pro wrestling or even boxing.
That is until I watched UFC 261.
Reason 1: Floppy Leg
I admit it…I watched UFC 261 out of sheer boredom.
The first fight of the night was between Anthony Smith and Jimmy Crute. I have no idea who these dudes are. They could be the best MMA fighters in the world and I’d still have no idea.
My knowledge of MMA fighters is still stuck in the 90s – early 2000s and is mainly of fighters who’ve crossed over from UFC to the WWE, like Ken Shamrock or Brock Lesnar. I know a bit about the Gracie MMA family and Mirko Cro Cop (mainly because of his cool name) but that’s pretty much it.
Oh yeah…and Ronda Rousey.
Anyways, the Smith vs Crute fight started off like any fight would. Punches, kicks…some light foreplay. The usual.
It wasn’t until late in Round 1 (with about 66 seconds remaining) that something happened.
Looked like a fairly innocent kick right? Tons of those have already landed in the match. What’s so special about this one? Well, it turned out to be the one that broke the camel’s back.
Or in this case, Crute’s leg.
Right after the kick, Crute’s leg pretty much took the day off and decided to break (no pun intended) all laws of physics.
It was horrible, it was cringey…and I couldn’t look away!
Throughout the remaining time in the first round, Crute’s leg twisted and flopped in ways I’ve never seen…and hopefully will never again!
Apparently (at least according to the announcers), Smith kicked Crute so hard that it basically destroyed the nerve in his leg. Holy shit! That’s hardcore! I don’t know whether it’s permanent but nerve damage is just as serious (if not more so) as a broken bone!
I have to give it to Crute though…that dude is a machine. Even with his leg AWOL, the man STILL KEPT ON FIGHTING till Round One ended. He even fought for a bit in Round 2 before the referee (not Crute!) decided that Crute wasn’t able to go on.
Whatever the future holds for you Mr Crute, you have my eternal respect for fighting in UFC 261 on that leg when I would’ve just cried and rolled into a damn ball.
Reason 2: Destroyed Leg
This one is just sad. It’s like somebody up there really hates Chris Weidman. At least in the first fight the two fighters got to fight for a bit before tragedy struck. At least their months of training was worth it for a few minutes!
Not for Chris Weidman.
Poor, unlucky, brittle Chris Weidman. For him, his first kick turned out to be his very last of the night (and for a good long while after I suspect).
From initial inspection, that looks like a routine kick doesn’t it? I thought so too!
There was a loud smack after it landed, but NOBODY paid that any attention. I thought it was just the usual sound of something hitting flesh, and the announcers seemed to think along those lines too.
Well, that smack wasn’t routine. It was the sound of Weidman’s shin snapping. Whether it was due to Hall secretly being a Terminator, or Weidman needing more calcium in his diet, the end result was the same.
Weidman now has two (or more) bones where there was one.
That’s taken right after Weidman’s kick.
Suddenly, he’s in contention to become Mr Fantastic in Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie. No CGI needed, just plain old broken bones.
It’s painful to watch and everybody knows it. No body part should ever bend like that.
The crowd goes ‘oooooh’, the referee goes ‘oooooh’, the announcers go ‘oooooh’…Hall just stares blankly, which reinforces my theory he’s a Terminator.
Hall was an gracious winner though. He didn’t talk trash about (accidentally) decimating Weidman and even praised the dude. That’s awesome man because you probably ended his MMA career right there.
Hall’s next opponent might want to consider surgically implanting metal plates in their legs though.
Reason 3: Super Spreader Event
UFC 261 is the first time the MMA promotion is allowing back crowds into its events. By the look of the turnout, it might potentially be the last time many of these people will ever see a UFC event.
You know…because they’ll likely be dead from COVID-19.
How insane do you have to be to attend an event that blatantly ignores every single COVID-19 precaution? Where are the masks? How about the safe distancing?
It seems like the people in the US don’t seem to think that COVID-19 is any worry any longer. True, there’s a decline in reported infections from the last few days but that doesn’t mean that everything’s hunky dory!
You have to follow the rules or things will just spike up again! What part of that is so hard to understand?
Perhaps it’s a false sense of security over vaccine availability? Or is this just part of the plan for the US to become the champion of COVID-19 infections once more?
After all, the US does enjoy being Number One! It must be just awful to see India take the top spot now. Filthy, disgusting India.
I’m actually awaiting to see what’s the fallout of this event going to be.
Will it be another super spreader event? Or have the Americans lucked out and escaped certain doom?
Tune in next week to find out!
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
