UFC 180: Leslie Smith Almost Lost Her Ear, Begged To Keep Fighting [Video]
MMA fighter Leslie Smith wanted to keep fighting during UFC 180 on Saturday night – even after her ear started falling off.
During the highly-publicized UFC event, Jessica “Evil” Eye landed a brutal right punch to the left side of Leslie Smith’s head – opening Leslie’s ear up almost immediately after impact.
Once the devastating injury was noticed by the referee (and everyone else that was watching Leslie Smith’s head closely), he tried to stop the match immediately. However, as you can see in the footage, it was clear that Leslie Smith could not hear him.
Reports show that doctors intervened during the second round of the match at the 1:30 mark and officially stopped the fight.
Leslie Smith was not happy with that decision and pleaded with the doctors to allow her to keep fighting even with her ear looking like it was going to completely fall off at any moment.
Leslie Smith pleaded with the doc not to stop the fight even though her ear was falling off. That’s one tough woman. pic.twitter.com/2QNH1SvdKK
— Americana (@americana_brand) November 16, 2014
Although she was clearly mad about the decision to stop the fight, Leslie Smith essentially admitted that she later came to her senses after she saw pictures of the injury and reflected on the support that she received.
In an official statement posted on Squor Sports by Leslie Smith, she realized after seeing the pictures of her ear that she should have focused more on protecting that vital body part.
“I was pretty mad in the cage. I saw some pictures afterward and I appreciate the doctors looking out for me. I guess. I should’ve adjusted to protect my ear before the doctors had to stop it. Thank you for all the support, thank you to my sponsors… Thank you to my team and my coaches at El Niño Training Center for getting me ready. Thank you to all the fight fans. I’ll do better next time.”
What do you think about Leslie Smiths’ performance at UFC 180?
[Image Credit: Yahoo! Sports]
