The UFC strawweight had her elbow dislocated.
Kanako Murata was heartbroken over her fight against Virna Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 29 getting stopped, but it was probably for the best in light of the damage she sustained.
Murata and Jandiroba fought on the preliminary portion of the card in what was advertised as a grappler versus wrestler matchup between the two future stars of the strawweight division. The fight eventually made it to the ground, where Jandiroba quickly went to work on several close armbar attempts on the left arm of Murata that nearly stopped her in the first round. She fought through them, however, and her resilience got her to the second round.
The effects of those armbar attempts were obvious though, as Murata was seen struggling to do anything with her left arm, which appeared to be dangling throughout the round. At the end of 10 minutes, the cageside physician at the UFC APEX was called in to examine Murata’s arm and she was deemed unfit to continue. The fight was stopped and Jandiroba was declared the victor by way of technical knockout.
The immediate diagnosis was a dislocated elbow for Murata, who later took to social media to share the X-rays of her damaged arm.
“Thank you for your generous support [UFC],” wrote Murata. “I will be stronger and come back.”
Murata also responded to comments made by one of her coaches, who praised her for wanting to continue to fight despite her arm being hurt.
“Thank you for all your support,” wrote Murata. “Thank you for the best coaches. This time it didn’t work. But I feel that everyone is heading in the same direction. They hit me, I hit ‘em back.”
There is currently no word on what the recovery process will be for Murata, but it is likely the former RIZIN and Invicta FC standout will need some time to heal. Not only did the loss to Jandiroba halt an impressive eight-fight win streak, it also marked her first in the UFC since joining the promotion late last year.