LAS VEGAS – It’s not at all uncommon to hear of fighters detailing less-than-ideal circumstances encountered while training for a UFC appearance. However, it’s not often that those struggles includes being struck by a vehicle.
“It was a delicate situation,” [autotag]Dusko Todorovic[/autotag] told MMA Junkie following Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 31 event. “By the end of July, I got hit by a car. The guy ran over me while I was crossing, so he messed up my left leg pretty good, and I knew that the call was going to come, so I was thinking at that time of trying to prepare for a possible bout, you know? So when the contract came, I was still not training properly or anything.
“I couldn’t, you know, use my foot the right way, so there were definitely lots of setbacks during this camp and difficulties, all regarding that injury. I didn’t want to talk with anyone about it. I didn’t let even my family know. Just my girl knew, so yeah, it was pretty crazy.”
Todorovic (11-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) faced Maki Pitolo (13-9 MMA, 1-5 UFC) in the featured prelim of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 31 card. It was an important contest for the 27-year-old middleweight after dealing with a pair of consecutive losses following an undefeated run of 10 fights to start his pro career.
Todorovic admits he wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent for the matchup but felt it was important to show up and compete.
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“I was on crutches for three weeks,” Todorovic told MMA Junkie via email. “Whilst in that state, I was able to only go to the gym and do therapy for my knee and foot. It was probably up until the middle of September when I came back to the Secutor Academy MMA gym and did my first light workout. It was mostly boxing on the bag without much movement. All the wrestling was mostly controlled drilling.
“I wasn’t able to do as much of sparring or even train as I normally do. We have had to modify everything for this fight.”
As if all that wasn’t enough for Todorovic, things continued to get worse for him during pre-fight warmups.
“My leg gave up on me during the warmup for the fight,” Todorovic admitted. “It snapped pretty hard as it slipped off the makeshift warmup tatami, so that was another obstacle I had to go over before actually crossing gloves with Maki.”
Fortunately for Todorovic, after fending off an early guillotine choke from his opponent, he was able to turn the tide, eventually working to a dominant position and pounding away with punches to score a first-round TKO.
While the numerous challenges he faced could have easily proven impossible to overcome, Todorovic said he turned his misfortune into anger and used it to fuel his performance.
“I got mad,” Todorovic said. “I was pissed off because then that leg was – even from earlier stages – it was injured. Those things occurred to me pretty often, you know, where my foot would just go ‘snap’ and get swollen and hurt a couple of days, and I got used to it, but to happen right before a fight – and the fight that’s so important for me – I got pissed, man.”
With the result, Todorovic returns to the win column and closes out a very difficult year on a high note. But don’t expect him to make a quick turnaround. While the Dana White’s Contender Series veteran is proud of what he accomplished in the face of immense difficulties, he also knows the importance of allowing himself a chance to now make a full recovery.
“I want to stay active, but I need to take care of this because it’s not a light injury, especially after a car hit me,” Todorovic said. “It’s still pretty fresh. You know, it was in July. The wounds, itself, closed up maybe a month-and-a-half ago, so it’s still pretty fresh. I would like to heal it properly so I can prepare for a fight and go with my A-game in the next bout.”
To hear the full interview with Todorovic, check out the video above. To see graphic video of the recovery process, see the video below.
