There are injuries, and then there are career-threatening injuries. But the thing about most injuries is that they are not visible, except for a few. Concussions and things like broken ribs are extremely dangerous, but not visible to the audience. But a broken leg is different. Not only is it extremely painful but also difficult to look at. Conor McGregor, Anderson Silva, and Chris Weidman have all suffered horrific leg snaps in the octagon, prompting disgust from the viewers.
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And, a video has been doing the rounds showing a similar, albeit possibly career-ending injury to a fighter in ACA 161. And fans were horrified- both by the injury and the conduct of his opponent in the cage.
Grigoriy Ponomarev suffers horrific leg snap in a bout at ACA 161
Russian fighter Grigoriy Ponomarev, nicknamed ‘Grizzly’ faced Mukhamad Vakhaev in a heavyweight bout at Absolute Championship Akhmat 161, a Russian Mixed Martial Arts tournament. He came into the fight with a 6-2 record and was hoping to extend his two-win streak until something totally unexpected happen.
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A few seconds after the bout started, Ponomarev attempted to throw his opponent over his right shoulder. His leg twisted and broke. Both fell to the ground and as they scrambled to their feet, Ponomarev put his weight on his broken left leg, snapping it inwards. The Russian started writhing in pain before the referee intervened. But, his opponent continued to hit the heavyweight and celebrated with a backflip as he lay writhing on the ground, prompting outrage from fans.
Fans react to the catastrophic injury
In a clip posted on Instagram of the incident, fans were disgusted by the injury and his opponent’s refusal to stop hurting him even after the referee told him to stop. Here is a snapshot of what fans had to say.
One fan commented on Vakhaev continuing to hit his incapacitated opponent:
“Still couldn’t ko him with free shots after the injury.”
Another was more sympathetic toward Vakhaev:
“People hating on the celebrating dude …… that guy is probably sorry after watching the repetition , he def did not know or was aware how bad that i injury was.”
Another felt it was classless:
“Celebrating like that after a injurie , is classles 🤡”
One fan felt Vakhaev was fighting dirty:
“Dude landed 2 shots after the ref made contact with him to stop the fight. Dirty. Then does a backflip…”
A user felt he should have been disqualified:
“One more punch and that should be a DQ”
Another user felt the backflip was worse:
“The backflip was worse”
One user didn’t understand why Vakhaev was celebrating:
“What is that retard celebrating?”
Another was sympathetic to Ponomarev:
“I felt that 🙈”
One fan felt the ref should have reacted quicker:
“horrible ref took way too long”
Clearly, the injury is pretty bad, and may even lead to the end of Ponomarev’s career. MMA fans are united in their concern for the fighter. As far as Vakhaev goes, he might not have seen his opponent’s leg break, but his refusal to stop hitting Ponomarev despite the referee intervening is unacceptable and illegal. What do you think about Ponomarev’s injury? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Written by
Edited by
Abhishek Das