UFC middleweight Sean Loeffler remains positive in the wake of ankle injury

Everything was going well for Sean Loeffler. Minutes away from making his UFC debut, the owner of a six-fight winning streak was going through his final warm-ups and started loosening up with tuck jumps when he heard an awful sound.

“My foot got caught in a crack in the warm-up mat, and it rolled over and snapped in half.” said Loeffler in apress release on the unfortunate situation. “The whole locker room heard it pop.”

Loeffler Calls UFC Opportunity a Dream Come True

Loeffler was scheduled to fight Buddy Roberts on the undercard of Wednesday night’s UFC on Fuel 1 card, yet never entered the cage. The resulting of the mishap was a severe strain of his fibula and tibia. His ankle instantly swelled to nearly thrice its normal size as evidenced by photos uploaded soon after by Dana White. Loeffler’s status in the UFC was later confirmed soon after by Lorenzo Fertitta who said his job was safe regardless of the setback.

Recovery time is unknown according to Loeffler’s publicist Phil Lanides. He will require an MRI to determine the extent of the injury and whether surgery is required. As it is, the probability of the 29-year old going under the knife is approximately 50/50 at this point. That alone will determine whether Loeffler will be out weeks or months.

Given this recovery time, it’s possible Loeffler won’t be fighting Roberts again but he doesn’t want to look too far past the recovery he has ahead of him.

“I have no idea who the UFC wants for me next.” concluded Loeffler. “Regardless, I need to get healthy and then we’ll deal with it. I was ready for Buddy, so if he’s next, I will be ready for him again.”