(“Brett, your x-rays came back and I have to tell you, the results are…grim. Ha ha, sorry, couldn’t help myself.” Image via MiddleEasy)
When Brett Rogers was stopped by Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, and Josh Barnett during his Strikeforce run in 2009-2011, it just seemed like a case of a good slugger being outmatched by three legends of the sport. But when he was dominated for three rounds by relatively unheralded Russian prospect Alexander Volkov at last Friday’s Bellator show, the loss wasn’t as easy to dismiss. Was this proof that Rogers was washed up?
As it turns out, Brett had a good reason for looking so tentative throughout the fight. I mean, damn, just look at that friggin’ x-ray. Here’s what he had to say to MiddleEasy about trying to fight though a cracked arm:
I was really unsure of what happened to my arm. I didn’t really know until about the third round that it was broken. I’ve never broke anything on my body before, so I just kept I kept going. I thought I needed to keep fighting. By the time I found out that it was, I just felt that I needed to keep going and hopefully catch him with something — catch him with that left.
I’ve never broken anything. It was a surreal moment for me. I was like fuck — something ain’t right. I need to keep going with this and hope for the best. Volkov definitely realized by the third round that something wasn’t right, so he was trying to test me out from top to bottom. By the time we found it, it was just a little too late.
I did my part as far as surviving and making to it to the decision. That still is not a fight that I ever want to fight. I never want to have that type of fight again. Ever.
And he might not get a chance to have that type of fight for a while. With a nasty injury and a quick exit from the Bellator heavyweight tournament, it’s unclear when we’ll see the Grim back in action. Such a shame — hasn’t this man suffered enough?