Cody Haddon has revealed the extent of his frustration after injuries forced him out of two successive UFC bouts.
The 27-year-old from Perth was initially sidelined with a broken foot, an injury sustained in training that forced him to withdraw from a scheduled fight against Aleksandre Topuria at UFC 312 in Sydney.
After recovering, Haddon was slated to face Malcolm Wellmaker at UFC 322 in New York City, but disaster struck four days before the fight.
Another Injury Blow Before UFC 322
Haddon explained that the injury occurred in the training room when he threw a kick and felt his foot collapse as he stepped back. “It’s not like I was kicking super-hard; it was like a tennis player practicing their swing,” Haddon said.
Despite the injury, Haddon initially hoped to compete, intending to cut weight and assess his condition on the morning of the fight. “I wanted to give myself ‘til Saturday morning to see if I could walk because if I could walk, I could fight,” he stated.
However, an examination by UFC doctors revealed the severity of the injury, forcing him to withdraw from the fight. He was replaced by Ethyn Ewing, who went on to defeat Wellmaker.
Emotional Toll of Setbacks
Haddon admitted that he experienced a range of emotions following the withdrawal, including shame and embarrassment. “I think the biggest thing for me was I was worried —I felt a lot of shame, embarrassment, like I had let people down. I let myself down, too, although what happened was out of my control,” Haddon said.
He also feared that the UFC would lose faith in him after the two consecutive withdrawals. “I’m just really grateful that the UFC didn’t write me off because that was the biggest fear when I pulled out of that one,” continued Haddon.
Haddon earned a unanimous decision win over Dan Argueta in his promotional debut seven weeks after claiming a spot on the UFC roster with a first-round stoppage win in the second week of Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Uncertainty and the Future
Haddon expressed his desperation to continue his career, stating he didn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t get back into the Octagon. He said, “That would be my career done. I just wasted 21 years of training to get here for this to happen, and to get back is so hard.”
Haddon wanted to fight in Perth but wasn’t hearing back from the UFC. He wondered what was going to happen next.
The article highlights the often-unseen challenges faced by athletes, particularly the emotional and mental toll of injuries and career uncertainty.