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Updated October 6th, 2021 at 19:47 IST

'Is anybody shocked?': UFC Prez Dana White reacts to bare-knuckle fighter's tragic death

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was grieved but not shocked to hear about Bare Knuckle fighter Justin Thornton's death.

Reported by: Azhar Mohamed
UFC
Image: AP | Image:self
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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was grieved but not shocked to hear about Justin Thornton's death. Thornton died after suffering a horrific BKFC 20 knockout defeat in his only bout for the promotion back in August. He was sent to the hospital following his knockout loss to Dillon Cleckler at BKFC 20. The one-time BKFC fighter was knocked out following a quick fight in the centre of the arena and fell face-first to the floor after only 19 seconds of fighting. Thornton was partially paralysed after the battle and he stayed in the hospital for several weeks afterwards, battling an infection caused by spinal cord damage.

Dana White expressed his grief after the demise of Thorton but was not surprised by it. White opened up about his views by talking about bare-knuckle fighting when asked about this in the Contender Series post-fight press conference. “First of all, is anybody shocked? In bare-knuckle fighting… I’m not a big fan. I get — I guess I would call it concerned — when I see some of our people when they leave here and they go there. And it’s like, Oh god. We’ve been putting on fights for 25 years. I’ve done over seven thousand fights with no serious injuries in the UFC. We’ve had some broken bones, some badly broken bones. The shin bone being the worst ‘cause it just blows our mind when that bone breaks. And cuts. That’s what we have,” said White.

Dana White sheds light on the amount spent by UFC on health and safety of fighters

The UFC have invested in brain research and psychedelic treatment in the hopes of aiding fighters. White revealed an absolute amount for how much they invest on medical requirements for fighters, and further claims that no other organization comes close to UFC in these terms. "Every year, we spend $20 million on athlete medicals. $20 million bucks per year! As a result of that, our pre-fight screening throughout the last 20 years, we found ten athletes that had life-threatening medical problems with them. And career-ending (injuries), that they shouldn’t be fighting. Nobody does even remotely close to what we do in this sport. It’s never been done what we do and nobody ever will,” added White.

Image: AP

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Published October 6th, 2021 at 19:47 IST

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