UFC's John Dodson out for a year with injured ACL
UFC flyweight contender John Dodson will be out of competition until 2015 after undergoing surgery to repair an injured anterior cruciate ligament) (ACL) this week. Dodson had trained and fought through multiple knee injuries in recent years but this time, he completely torn his ACL.
"It popped again that Monday after the fight when I went to go run," Dodson said in a recent interview with Damon Martin.
"I was running, running and then I heard I pop again and I was like maybe I need to tell somebody and my manager forced me to go to the doctors and get it checked it out and get the final opinion on it. It turns out I blew the whole thing."
Dodson had been campaigning with both word and action to get another crack at 125 pound champion Demetrious Johnson, whom he faced and lost a close decision to in 2013. Johnson bristled at Dodson's trash talk and was reluctant to give him a rematch despite Dodson's two straight wins since that loss.
"I was messing with Demetrious Johnson and I really, really, really want to beat this dude up. I want that title. I was gearing for it and getting ready for this fight," Dodson said.
"He can go ahead and take his little time off and be okay being a loser. He didn't want to fight me now he doesn't have to fight me."
Dodson will have a long wait before he can even train hard again, much less fight. The usually bright and cheery fighter will certainly have to steel himself to get through this rough time.
"I'm looking at six to eight months of me actually being out before I can start going back in the gym and going hard and stuff," he said.
"About a year [before a fight]."
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