Regardless of the fighting arena, any time an athlete becomes unexpectedly unable to go at 100 percent can be a detriment. Torrez Finney ran into that first-hand on Saturday night in Sydney, Australia, during his bout at UFC 325. After sustaining a torn LCL in the opening round, Finney toughed it out, avoiding losing by knockout before losing 30-27, 30-26, 30-26 to Jacob Malkoun.
As Malkoun celebrated following the judge’s decisions, Finney was helped out of the octagon by the match’s medical team, unable to put weight on his right leg.
The loss was the first for Finney, but he’s hardly deterred.
“Obviously, it’s something different. My whole career, amateur and pro, I have always come out with a W. It’s a different experience. It’s a weird way to look at it because I have always said if somebody beat me at their best, I can give them a hand,” Finney said. “But obviously, I was not at my best, so I have a different feel approaching the after-effect of a so-called loss.”
Unable to fully use his right leg early on, Finney was limited as the fight went on.
“I took a step and felt my knee pop. Usually, when I have that adrenaline running, I don’t feel much pain during a fight. But I felt that shock, and that pain shot straight up my leg, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is something different.’ I tried to put pressure on it, and it kept me flat-footed.”
Malkoun was able to take advantage, having a first-round 28-3 advantage on head strikes and 63-30 edge in the third round on significant strikes.
“It allowed Malkoun to utilize his jab. Take nothing away from the opponent, he went out and did his job,” Finney said.
“But I know with the game plan that we had, and that my explosiveness is a part of my game. There’s nothing that would have stopped me from taking him down.”
Even still, Finney’s toughness was on display as the 27-year-old took the fight to the finish despite the injury.
It’s something that he plans to build on as he recovers, a process that’ll include an MRI this week and recovery of roughly three or four months. And it’s not the first time down the road to injury recovery for Finney. On the middle school and high school levels, he recovered from injuries before going on to win wrestling titles. At Chattanooga, an injury preceded all-conference accolades.
“That’s definitely the motivation. I’ve had to deal with an injury at every level. Every time I dealt with an injury, I came back and won even more,” Finney said, “Now, it’s my opportunity to do this as a professional.”
