Doctor details Sean O'Malley's freakish injury during fight against Marlon Vera at UFC 252

Rising bantamweight contender Sean O'Malley's hype trained got somewhat derailed when he faced Marlon "Chito" Vera in the co-main event of UFC 252 this Saturday at Las Vegas, Nevada.

While fight fans were expecting to watch another spectacular performance from Sean O'Malley, what ensued was completely unexpected. A freak leg injury caused Sean O'Malley to lose balance and fall down on the match, and Vera pounced on the opportunity to secure top mount and lay some vicious ground and pound on O'Malley before Herb Dean decided to step in.

Doctor Brian Sutterer has now detailed the injury that caused the downfall of Sean O’Malley during his fight against Marlon Vera, revealing the potential extent of the injury. In an account called FightingDoc on Reddit, Sutterer stated the following.

“Sean O'Malley was definitely hit with a high calf kick right as he was backing up to the cage,” Sutterer said of Sean O’Malley. “Shortly after, while the commentators were talking about how short Stipe’s legs are, you can see him buckle. The common peroneal nerve courses around the fibular head on the outside of the lower leg and Vera’s kick hit him right on that point. Damage to that nerve and its branches will cause foot drop, more unopposed ankle rolling inwards, and therefore buckling of the foot when trying to walk. We saw that happen. And with the rolling of the foot and hitting the top of the foot on the canvas, he may have aggravated his old Lisfranc foot injury too.

“Lisfranc injuries also can lead to chronic mid-foot instability so it’s possible that all of the above just resulted in a perfect storm causing his right leg to just become non-functioning,” he continued. “Can’t take anything away from Chito though. Alex Perez TKO’ed Formiga several months ago with calf kicks and they both fight out of Team Oyama. Clearly those guys were drilling them during camp.”