Luke Sanders just picked up one of the biggest victories of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. Over the weekend (Sun. February 17, 2019) “Cool Hand” knocked out former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao at UFC Phoenix. Sanders was getting outclassed in the first round but followed his corner’s instructions to be more aggressive in the second round.
As a result, Sanders knocked the Brazilian out after just one minute. It turns out, Sanders was actually having difficulty walking before fighting Barao. Sanders has been dealing with knee issues and “torn stuff”. He even got a cortisone shot a few days before his fight because he couldn’t walk right (via MMA Junkie):
“I got some serious knee issues going on and some torn stuff,” Sanders said. “Last couple camps I’ve had (problems), and with this one it got even worse. I had to get a cortisone shot a couple says ago because I couldn’t even walk normal. So, yeah – made it, man.
“It was just one of those things from training – just a nagging injury that I’ve dealt with, so to make it here and be able to come out like that, it was nice. I knew I could do it, and I had all the faith I could do it, but just to be able to get in there and do it with all that going on was a battle, and it was hard.”
What do you think about Sanders beating Barao after barely being able to walk?
