“The Monkey King” broke his ankle three months before his most recent UFC outing.
More often than most might imagine, MMA fighters come into fights with injuries. Whether it be knee injuries, rib injuries, maybe back injuries, you get the point. How about an ankle that was broken three months before a fight?
Jordan Leavitt, who is coming off an inverted triangle choke submission win over Matt Sayles, had exactly that happen last time out — breaking his ankle three months before his fight against Matt Sayles back in December.
“I broke my ankle in September,” Leavitt told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview. “I jumped into a NAGA tournament, so I compete in jiu-jitsu for free. Actually, I even paid to compete in jiu-jitsu; I haven’t done that in 10 years. I got caught in a heel hook and there was no pressure on the knee. I yelled tap, but then he fell and popped my ankle out, and fractured my fibula. So yeah, that didn’t heal. I mean, it was an outline, and things worked out. Just some nerve damage, but besides that, you know, not being able to run or do a lot of things last camp [sucked]. Everything else went very swimmingly. But that’s why I was particularly flat-footed.”
Leavitt didn’t get a Performance of the Night bonus for his inverted triangle submission of Sayles, but he thinks he should have.
ANOTHER SUBMISSION VICTORY FOR @JoJo_MonkeyKing! #UFCVegas45 pic.twitter.com/OqDn2miBkL
— UFC (@ufc) December 18, 2021
Next up, Leavitt faces fellow Dana White’s Contender Series contract winner Victor Martinez on April 16.
“The Monkey King” is excited about the match-up.
“I think it’s a really fun matchup, like; I think I’m gonna get hit, I do think I’m going to get hit this fight. I’ve been hit like twice on the feet in my UFC career. I do think I’m gonna hit more, more than twice, this fight. I think Victor is gonna bring it; he has a good gas tank a very annoying stomp kick to the knee. So I want to avoid that. But um, I feel really good. I think I think it’s probably gonna be a decision if have to put money on it. I’m hoping for a first-round; I promise I’m gonna try to deliver that,” Leavitt said.
“I’m very excited because I think he has a black belt, which is cool. I haven’t tapped a black belt in my fight career yet.”
Watch the rest of our interview with Jordan Leavitt above.
