Broken Arm Sidelines Te Huna For Two Months

JAMIE Te Huna has been sidelined for two months after having surgery on a broken arm suffered during his recent UFC debut against Croatia’s Igor Pokrajac at UFC 110 in Sydney. The 28-year-old local of New Zealand heritage suffered the break in the third round of the biggest fight of his life when he blocked a Pokrajac kick with his forearm.

“As soon as the kick landed I knew I’d done some damage,” Te Huna said. “But I thought I’d damaged my hand, not my arm.”

In front of 17,000 fans at UFC 110, Pokrajac dropped Te Huna late in the second round and unloaded a flurry of unanswered punches as he lay spreadeagled on the canvas.

The bell proved to be a timely intervention for Te Huna, who recovered between rounds to steal the spoils via TKO at 3:26 in the final round.

“I don’t know why but I was feeling really flat during the first two rounds,” Te Huna said. “But I woke up for the third round when my cornerman Stevie (Ashby) told me I was losing on points. I gave it all I had in the final round.”

Te Huna displayed remarkable courage to continue fighting, especially on debut against such a tough and skilled adversary. But with so much at stake, he wasn’t about to stop – even with a broken arm.

“There was no way I was going to stop fighting,” he said. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and as long as I was standing and able to fight I wasn’t giving up. Thankfully I won, which made all the pain worth it.”

But it’s not the first time the humble champion has stunned an opponent after suffering serious injury.

At an X-Plosion contest against Japanese Takahishi Oba in 2006, Te Huna suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first round. But before the referee could award the fight to the Japanese, Te Huna had the shoulder yanked back into place by one of his cornermen and proceeded to defeat a stunned Oba by decision.

“When the adrenaline’s pumping you want to carry on, you don’t want to stop fighting,” Te Huna said. “It’s when you’ve cooled down after the fight that the pain gets worse and you realise you’ve done some damage.”

Te Huna underwent surgery just days after his UFC debut and had a plate inserted in his forearm.

“It’s quite painful now,” he said. “And all I can do is rest until it’s healed. I hate the thought of being inactive for two months but what can I do? I’m just thrilled I had an opportunity to fight in front of an awesome crowd in my hometown and to come away with a win.”