CB Dollaway was scheduled to fight on this weekend’s UFC on FX 8 card, but pulled out of his fight in early April due to an ankle injury.  He tweeted news of the surgery on April 4th, and Ryan Bader tweeted a picture of Dollaway’s surgically repaired ankle on April 10th.  (For more information on this surgery, you can read my BloodyElbow.com FanPost from April 11th.)

Now it seems that Dollaway has suffered a setback in his recovery.  Earlier today, in response to a fan’s question asking about his next bout, CB tweeted the following:

@h1ll13r what’s up man,Thank you for being a fan ! Not for a bit healing up this ankle had a torn tendon from the last one, trying for Nov.

— CB Dollaway (@cbdollaway)

May 16, 2013

It appears that Dollaway suffered another tendon (or ligament) tear in the same ankle, which was probably what he had surgery for in the first place.  It looks like he is now aiming for a return to the Octagon in November.  His original time table for return was three months.  Subsequent tweets from Dollaway indicate that his foot is still immobilized in a walking boot that stabilizes the foot/ankle while allowing weight bearing. 

A set back like this probably means that his rehab has been stalled as well.  Given that he is looking at November to return to action, he likely will not begin aggressive strengthening for 4-6 weeks at least.  And of course, all time tables are off if he has to have further surgery on the ankle. 

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On a recent BloodyElbow.com FanPost, I reviewed some of the injury histories for fighters on the upcoming UFC on FX 8 card.  

First, let me explain. This post is a review of fighters on the UFC on FX 8 card who are returning to action following injuries, or those who have an interesting injury history. If a bout is not listed in this post, that means there were no injuries of interest (to me, anyway). For purposes of brevity, I don’t review the three fights scheduled for Facebook.

The highlight injury recovery for this card has to go to John Cholish and his recovery from a torn adductor (groin) injury using platelet rich plasma therapy.

The Prelims on Fuel TV

Fabio Maldanado vs Roger Hollett- Hollett was forced out of his UFC on FX 7 bout in January due to a torn bicep. He was incapacitated for a short period of time, and was seen training in this Twitter picture posted on March 21. With this short recovery time, I doubt that he had surgery for this problem.

Yuri Alcantara vs Iliarde Santos- Marcos Vinicius was set to fight Alcantara in this bout, but pulled out with a knee injury. The UFC signed Iliarde Santos as a replacement.

Paulo Thiago vs Michel Prazeres- Thiago was forced out of UFC 142 due to a dislocated elbow. In his tweet announcing his withdrawal, Thiago says “thank God, nothing serious!” Thiago was originally set to face Lance Benoist in this fight, but an injury to Benoist opened the door for Michel Prazeres to step in.

The remainder of this post can be found over at BloodyElbow.com. 

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Last Friday, Gegard Mousasi revealed to MMAJunkie Radio that he indeed had surgery to repair an ACL tear, the second on the same knee since March 2012.  If Mousasi had the standard patella tendon ACL graft the first time, then he most likely had one of the alternate grafts for his second surgery.  In my latest FanPost on Bloodyelbow.com, I review this latest surgery and bloviate about what it means for Gegard’s return to the Octagon in the near future. 

For an injury and rehab geek like me, UFC 159 will be remembered for two things- Jon Jones’ toe injury and Yancy Medeiros’ dislocated thumb. Yancy’s injury seemed to get lost in the overpowering garishness of Jon Jones’ injury, so I have posted a brief review of this injury on BloodyElbow.com in the FanPost section.  You can find it here.

And if you’re interested, here is a good close-up pic of this injury.

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Earlier today, Ryan Bader posted an Instagram picture of… a pan of chick peas and broccoli.  While that looks tasty to me, it was the comments that accompany the picture that were of interest.  (You can see the picture link embedded in his tweet below.)

Roasted chickpea and broccoli burritos from thugkitchen.com good food blog with some humor instagram.com/p/ZEoYVusQif/

— Ryan Bader (@ryanbader)

May 9, 2013

In reply to a question “How’s the knee doin man?”, Bader states “started doing everything today, be back in there soon.”  Bader is recovering from a serious medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury to his knee.  (You can find more detail about this injury in a couple of my FanPosts on Bloodyelbow.com- here and here.)  I take his comment to mean that he has progressed to the point in his rehab where restrictions have been lifted.  

As of April 30, he was still a “couple of weeks away” from ground work in his training.  When I first documented Bader’s MCL injury, I felt that he would probably not be ready for a return to the Octagon until late summer.  However, based on his progress in rehab, he will probably be at full speed by mid-June or early July.  

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In an April 14 BloodyElbow.com FanPost, I detailed Ryan Bader’s medial collateral ligament (MCL) knee injury. In March, his doctor advised him to avoid any activity for a 6-8 week time frame. It appears that Bader has already returned to some light training, which suggests to me that he is a little ahead of schedule in his rehab. On April 30, he Tweeted the following:

Hit 20 miles on the bike, knee felt good. Still a couple weeks before I can get on the ground, but been putting in some good boxing work.

— Ryan Bader (@ryanbader) April 30, 2013

He notes that he has been boxing. This would likely include some lateral movement and cutting, which is a big rehab step when recovering from an MCL injury. Lateral movement places a valgus stress on the knee, which in turn directly stresses the MCL. (See my April 14th post for details on valgus stress.) He could possibly be using a brace on his knee for protection while boxing, but I believe that he probably is not. If his medical team believed that he still needed that degree of protection for the ligament, he probably would not be boxing at all.

It is apparent that his medical team is taking him through a controlled return to training, which is great to see. One of the principles of returning an athlete to competition is to take them through a progression of functional activities. Think of it like passing a series of tests. Bader has obviously passed the “test” of straight forward/backward movement such as bike riding and running. Then, he progressed to the test of boxing and the ensuing side-to-side movements, planting the leg, and controlled cutting. Based on his tweet, the next test will probably be progression to wrestling. With each test, the rehab team would be evaluating his knee for signs of swelling, increased pain, unusual avoidance of certain movements during activity, etc.

It appears very likely that Bader will be ready to return to the Octagon this summer.

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So the fight card that I decide to skip has some of the most hideous, puke-inducing injuries in years. I would have been in Twitter nirvana had I been watching… oh well, there’s always next time. I have been waiting for a reason to post pictures like this, so here goes…

By now, everyone who cares has seen the nauseating toe injury that Jon Jones suffered in his bout with Chael Sonnen, but for those who missed it, here it is thanks to Zombie Prophet of Bloodyelbow.com.

Check out my post on Bloodyelbow.com for details and a little controversy about his medical attention afterward.

Earlier today, I posted a piece on the Bloodyelbow.com Fanpost section about Al Iaquinta’s leg injury that caused him to pull out of his bout on UFC 159.  (This came only 1 day after his scheduled opponent, Joe Proctor, did the same.)  Iaquinta has a history of knee surgery in 2012, following an injury on the 15th season of TUF.  You can read my post here.  

Also, I should have episode 2 of the MMA Injury Report up by Sunday evening.  Thanks for following!