While many, including fellow UFC 302 star Randy Brown, believed that Michal Oleksiejczuk’s arm had snapped on Saturday at the Prudential Center, that does not appear to be the case.
Poland’s Oleksiejczuk found himself trapped in a nasty Kevin Holland arm-bar in the opening round at UFC 302, but simply refused to succumb to the pain, gutting it out longer than most would deem wise. When the arm appeared to pop, bent backward at an unnatural angle, the ref waved things off — although Oleksiejczuk immediately protested the stoppage.
While the result will go down as a defeat for Michal Oleksiejczuk officially, there is some good news. In a statement to MMA Junkie, the middleweight has revealed that his arm is not in fact broken, as many had assumed.
“I feel good,” Oleksiejczuk told the outlet on Tuesday. “My mental is OK. My arm is not broken. I think that I want a fight in a few months. I will be ready. … I didn’t tap. My arm is not broken. I felt great in this fight. This stoppage is not good. It’s not correct, in my opinion. … In my opinion, the stoppage is not correct. I think that if the fight was longer, my chance in this fight is [better].”
While the arm not being broken is a silver lining, it’s difficult to argue against the stoppage, as nearly everyone watching was wearing a grimace. The ref’s job is to protect the fighter, and he did just that.
The loss dropped Oleksiejczuk to 1-3 across his last four fights, putting him in a precarious position moving forward.
