UFC 331 Fighter Rushed to Hospital After Gruesome Injury

At UFC 331, the cageside doctors examined ‘Atomic’s injury as the third round was about to begin and cleared him to continue. Joe Rogan also spotted Menifield’s bleeding thumb around that time. However, Menifield revealed in his Octagon interview that he had actually hurt his thumb in the very first round. Still, it wouldn’t have made any difference to him.

“If this thumb, the whole wrist, all fingers would have broken, I would have kept going,” Menifield said in his post-fight Octagon interview. “Because as I walk the streets of L.A., I see those homeless people and I got to tell you, that’s my mom. I see my mom digging through the trash as she was a little kid. As I was a little kid, I have seen her in trash cans, and it broke my heart. So I always wanted to be tough. So where I come from, this is my backbone.”   

When it comes to suffering a ghastly injury, Alonzo Menifield is definitely not alone. Alexander Volkanovski also suffered a thumb injury in his rematch with Max Holloway at UFC 276, though it was nowhere near as gruesome. In fact, Jon Jones had to endure a nasty cut on his toe when he finished Chael Sonnen in the first round at UFC 159, and the bone popped out of his toe as well. 

Fortunately, ‘The Great’ wasn’t taken to the hospital, but the UFC had to rush ‘Bones’ there to stop the bleeding and keep the bone intact. 

Following the UFC 331 fighter’s nasty injury, UFC CEO Dana White also shared his reaction.

Dana White reacts after UFC 331 fighter suffers nasty injury

The severity of Alonzo Menifield’s injury is a big reason fans praised him for his performance, even though many didn’t necessarily agree with the result of his fight. That appreciation grew even more when UFC CEO Dana White revealed the full extent of the damage.

Taking to Instagram, White shared a picture of Menifield’s injury. The thumb appeared to be hanging off the bone, creating an image straight out of a slasher horror movie.

“Fight night,” the UFC CEO wrote in the caption.

Before the head honcho, Joe Rogan had drawn attention to the injury during the UFC 331 broadcast, but the picture gave it even more visibility. Still, it isn’t unusual for White to share a fighter’s injury update. In fact, the 57-year-old has posted many of them over the years. 

Most notably, after former UFC bantamweight title challenger Irene Aldana, who has recently retired from the sport, went to war with Norma Dumont at UFC 306 at the Sphere, White shared a photo of Aldana’s face covered in lacerations on social media. 

That said, even though Alonzo Menifield’s return to the Octagon will take some time, he is expected to come back far stronger. Hopefully, he won’t have to endure more of these gnarly injuries.