One of the most entertaining fights of UFC 163 involved flyweights Ian McCall and Iliarde Santos. McCall came into the fight looking to cement his ranking as a top five flyweight against Santos, a fighter just looking to prove he belonged in the division. For both men it could be considered mission accomplished. McCall showed off the kind of athleticism that few men, even in his own division can replicate, darting in and out with slick head movement and blazing hand speed to tag Santos with head body combinations. Santos, for his part, took advantage of McCall's propensity to get drawn into firefights and countered nicely in those instances where McCall stood in front of him. Of course what Santos may not have known, and certainly nobody watching knew, is that McCall fought much of the fight one handed. Uncle Creepy posted this post fight pic to his Instagram account:
He also offered a brief explanation of exactly how the injury occured:
ya really early in the first round, first time i faked a shot i touched his inside leg and came over with an over hand right and busted it (via the UG)
The injury puts extra emphasis on a strong performance from McCall, but unfortunately will most certainly sideline him for the foreseeable future. Its a tough blow for a division that needs to maintain its momentum off an exhilarating performance from Demetrious Johnson in his most recent title defense. The UFC may find itself forced to push another too green contender if they want to get Johnson back in action soon. Hopefully more news on the potential length of McCall's layoff will be coming soon, so stay tuned.
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