Josh Emmett was on the rise in the featherweight division. He shocked many by knocking out Ricardo Lamas to put himself into the top-10 of the division. There, Emmett was looking to build off the win and become a title contender.

His next fight was in the main event when he took on Jeremy Stephens. Emmett had some success in the fight until Stephens landed a nice combination of punches and elbows which knocked Emmett out. To make matters worse, Emmett dealt with a bevy of injuries which has kept him out of the Octagon for over a year.

“Yeah, everything went well. I had some fractures, unfortunately in my face and I had to have surgery,” Emmett said recently on BJPENN Radio. “They put a plate in there and just took some time off just to get better because I had a lot going on. I had like, the nerve in my face was being compressed, the muscle that controls the eye was impinged, and just like I said, several fractures. So I just wanted to take the necessary time to recover just because I just wanna have a long career.

“I feel like I’m just getting started, so I didn’t wanna come back too soon and have the career ending fight. Which we’ve seen in combat sports where people come back too early, the get another bad concussion or knockout and then they’re done. Or they’re experiencing a lot of just issues, where they’re unable to fight and I did not want that to happen to me. So I just played it safe. I know a lot of therapists and doctors and I’m lucky to have them in my life. They just lead me in the right direction, and I’ve just been doing tons of things, and yeah, I feel great now.”

Now, Emmett is back and ready to return to the Octagon. At UFC Philadelphia, he will be looking to get back into the win column when he takes on Michael Johnson. But, for him, after a long recovery year Emmett is just looking forward to fighting again.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/15/2019.