‘I Don’t Wish That For My Worst Enemy’

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Colby Covington broke his jaw in his loss to Kamaru Usman at the UFC 245 pay-per-view (PPV) event last weekend in Las Vegas, in what is known in the medical community as a non-displaced midline mandible fracture.

Most causal fans don’t know what that means or how bad it is.

Unfortunately for top welterweight contender, Rafael dos Anjos, that’s an injury not unfamiliar to him after more than a decade of competing in combat sports, and something he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy.

“I’ve had that injury before,” Dos Anjos told Ag Fight (via Bloody Elbow). “I don’t know how serious it is, but you need a strong mentality in order to come back from that. I really hope he fights again and doesn’t retire. I’ve seen many fighters retire after that injury. It’s something I don’t wish for my worst enemy. It took me six months just to begin training again, I remember how I was. I took me about 10 months to fight again, almost one year.”

Dos Anjos suffered a similar injury in his burping, drooling loss to Clay Guida at UFC 117 way back in 2010, which left him sidelined until the following July. Upon his return, the Brazilian stiffened George Sotiropoulos at UFC 132.

It’s not yet known how long Covington, 31, will be out of action as the details surrounding the severity of his injury have been sketchy, at best. If and when he does return in 2020, this former teammate may be waiting.