The reason we haven’t talked of, seen or heard about Rick Story in the recent past is because he was injured and this was not some little sprain. The injury could have ended his career and many people did not expect him to return after his injury and he himself has confessed that it was a nightmare of an injury. However, thanks to the advances in medicine and especially in innovative surgeries, Rick Story is once again punch it out in the octagon.
His come back however has not been as smooth or scare free as he would have liked. It was in a training bout with Erick Silva when the injury exposed its scary face again and Story’s heart skipped a beat.
He was caught by what he described as a “stinger” and thanks to the predisposition because of the injury, he lost muscle function in his right arm and shoulder and this was only three weeks before a fight. Story even said to media personnel that his arm was rendered so useless that he couldn’t even lift up a jar of pickle.
So what did Story’s surgery involve? Story basically had bone spurs going through the canal to the vertebrae that were responsible for the functioning of his right arm and shoulder muscles. The surgery essentially removed these vertebrae and replaced them with artificial disks which allowed him to regain control of these muscles.
A few years ago, such procedures were not FDA approved yet and Story would never have been able to fight again. Thanks to recent review and approvals, the procedure which has allowed Story to continue doing what he loves is now FDA approved and the UFCMMA will also not disallow him from fighting post surgery.
When asked about how he felt to be fighting world class fighters with artificial vertebrae, Story said confidently that as far as he was concerned, he felt better than he did many years ago when he was young and wresting in college. We await his come back in fight night 88 where he faces Tarec Saffiedine.