WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
An MMA fighter suffered one of the most gruesome injuries imaginable during a fight Friday, video shows.
The injury occurred during an Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) fight, a Russian-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Fighters Mukhumat Vakhaev and Grigoriy Ponomarev were set to square off during the ACA 161 card.
Just over 20 seconds into the fight, Ponomarev threw Vakhaev and attempted to capitalize on the move with a takedown when he stepped too far and subsequently mangled his leg in an entirely unnatural way, graphic video of the event shows. Ponomarev’s leg was bent completely sideways at the knee under his own weight. Again, the below video depicting the moment of injury is graphic. (RELATED: UFC Fighter Istela Nunes Suffers Nasty Elbow Injury That Will Make Your Jaw Drop To The Floor)
I’m warning you now. This is a horrible, potential career ending injury.
Grigoriy Ponomarev destroys his leg/knee/everything at ACA 161. Wait for the replay pic.twitter.com/JTN4oAdrYH
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 11, 2023
Ponomarev flipped onto his back and his leg flailed limply in the air while he took multiple nasty punches to the head by Vakhaev. The referee subsequently stopped the fight, allowing Vakhaev to win the match in just 32 seconds via technical knockout (TKO), according to the ACA’s website.
The crowd can be heard cheering in the background up until the replay is shown, and the arena becomes far more silent.
I thought the bloodied and deformed broken nose of Blake Perry or the nasty ankle bend of Conor McGregor were the worst MMA injuries I’d ever seen, but this one surely takes the cake.
Ponomarev’s exact injuries are currently unconfirmed, but it’s certainly plausible they could be career-ending, if not worse.