Duško Todorović was injured in the worst way possible before his fight against Maki Pitolo at UFC Vegas 44 this past Saturday.
Todorović kept it a secret but revealed that he was hit by a car earlier this year. The incident left the middleweight with a very mangled left knee and foot, which were re-injured during his warm-ups just before he was about to walk to the cage. Though he was ‘pissed’ over the unfortunate situation, Todorović fought through it, scored a first-round technical knockout over Pitolo and returned to the win column in his third Octagon appearance this year.
Todorović spoke with assembled media at his post-fight press conference and detailed the circumstances that nearly derailed his fight with Pitolo altogether.
“It was a delicate situation,” said Todorović (video provided by MMA Junkie). “By the end of July, I got hit by a car. The guy ran over me while I was crossing, so he messed up my left leg pretty good. I knew that the call was going to come, so I was thinking at that time of trying to prepare for a possible bout, you know? So when the contract came, I was still not training properly or anything.
“I couldn’t use my foot the right way, so there was definitely lots of setbacks during this camp and difficulties, all regarding that injury,” continued Todorović. “I didn’t want to talk with anyone about it. I didn’t even let my family know. Just my girl knew, so yeah. It was pretty crazy.”
In case you were wondering what his foot looked like, Todorović shared photos of it as well as his recovery process with MMA Junkie that can be seen below.
Warning: The video contains graphic images. Please proceed with caution.
Todorović also said that he is still dealing with the injuries from the incident and would like to spend some time away to recover from them fully.
“I want to stay active, but I need to take care of this because it’s not a light injury, especially after a car hit me,” said Todorović. “It’s still pretty fresh, you know? It was July. The wound itself closed up maybe a month-and-a-half ago, so it’s still pretty fresh. I would like to heal it properly so I can prepare for a fight and go with my A-game in the next bout.”
The Contender Series alum was on the wrong end of a two-fight skid that included losses to Punahele Soriano and Gregory Rodrigues, respectively. With the win over Pitolo, Todorović now improves to 11-2 as a professional.
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