UFC strawweight Luana Pinheiro is still recovering from her last fight, which took place earlier this month. Aside from the normal bumps and bruises associated with entering the octagon, she suffered what can safely be referred to as a unique injury.
The Brazilian lost her fight at UFC Vegas 100 on November 9 against Gillian Robertson by unanimous decision and limped out of the octagon. She caught several 12-6 elbows, which have up until recently been illegal in the UFC, on her butt, including one directly to her anus.
The “disrespectful” shots, as Pinheiro refers to them as, took place at the end of the first-round with one of them, quite possibly the devastating elbow to the anus, taking place after the bell.
The elbows didn’t just leave the 31-year-old with a limp either. Pinheiro is still, weeks later, having trouble sitting down, and she’s not at all happy about it.
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"I’m on strong meds. Today’s the last day I’ll take them. I can’t sit without a cushion or bend my back. I can’t exert much force because I feel it there. At first, I couldn’t walk, cough, or laugh properly. Sneezing was agony, I felt like I was dying, you know?, Pinheiro added.
My point is just that they have very carefully considered what actions are and aren’t legal, and you’re participating in a sport where one of the primary methods of victory is to do so much brain damage that their brain loses control of their body.
You can and should continue to attempt to evolve the rules within reason, but it doesn’t seem right to attack someone for actions the rules allow for in the context of a sport where damage is the goal. It’s inherently different than something like basketball, where you can try to hurt someone (or recklessly risk injury) in a way that isn’t really a basketball play but isn’t specifically regulated. In MMA, trying to hurt someone is one of the goals.
If the rules allow it, people will try to use it.
Dude. You really think this is the face of someone who carefully considers ANYTHING?
Before you answer, allow me to point out that he, the CEO and president of UFC, is also the leader of a slap fight league and is a fan of Rage Against the Machine and Donald Trump simultaneously.
You REALLY think that an organization run by him carefully considers the minutiae of every rule, always taking the safety of competitors seriously?
REALLY?