“The damage was done,” Drakkar Klose tells how Jeremy Stephens’ powerful shove nearly made him quit MMA
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Jeremy Stephens- Drakkar Klose
UFC Lightweight Drakkar Klose is returning to the Octagon after more than 2 years of a layoff. For someone who was initially supposed to return to fighting in 2021, it’s fair to say Klose had a bit of bad luck with his fate. Klose is a professional mixed martial artist with 14 fights experience and a record of 11-2 with a draw. He fights in the lightweight division of the UFC where he is 5-2.
Klose last fought in UFC 248 against Beneil Dariush where he lost the fight via second-round knockout, with the finish preceded by a memorable back and forth between him and potential title challenger Dariush. The reactions of the commentary team- comprising of Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik– from that back and forth is now one of the most famous meme templates on the internet.
Drakkar Klose suffered a herniated disc, numb arm and much more Jeremy Stephens’ unnecessary shove
Back in April 2021, Klose was booked to fight former UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens at UFC Vegas 24 fight card headlined by middleweight Kelvin Gastelum and former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. During the face-off after the weigh-ins, the staredown became so intense that Stephens shoved Klose to the chest. The shove was so hard that Klose suffered a cervical sprain of the neck and a concussion resulting in calling off the fight.
In a report to BJ-Penn.com, Klose revealed “The damage was done, I’m still not 100 per cent from that. It’s something I will probably need surgery on eventually… I told myself if I have to get surgery, I’m just going to call it quits. Just trying to manage it and do the therapy and all that. I did think that was going to be the end of me…
I was having really bad headaches, dealing with my neck issue, it is something serious. When I saw my doctor he talked about fusing my neck and I didn’t want to hear that. I want to go out on my terms, I don’t want to go out with the doctor telling me I can’t do this. It was a herniated disc, C6, C7, as soon as it happened my whole arm went numb, and later that night, things weren’t right and I woke up couldn’t open my eyes, a real bad headache“ Klose concluded describing the details of the damage done to him.
What do you make of Klose talking about near retirement from a shove that would’ve been overlooked easily if not for him revealing the repercussions? Who do you think wins between Klose and his opponent this weekend at UFC on ESPN 34, Brandon Jenkins? Klose is known for his wins over the likes of Bobby Green, Lando Vannata, Mark Diakiese and many more.
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)