When it comes to hand injuries, Michael “Mayday” McDonald just can’t seem to catch a break. Actually…I guess that’s literally the problem.
The former UFC bantamweight title challenger has had issues with hand injuries dating back to his tenure with the UFC but they have since followed him to his new home of Bellator.
McDonald made his promotional debut for Bellator in December 2017 in winning fashion as he defeated Peter Ligier via unanimous decision. However, McDonald would suffer a broken hand in the second round that would require surgery.
In his sophomore appearance, he would take on the former Bellator 135-pound king, Eduardo Dantas. McDonald only needed 58-seconds to put away the former champ with punches but would still suffer a broken hand in the process.
In his post-fight interview, McDonald was a bit more upset than happy and even questioned if he would be able to keep fighting if these hand injuries kept presenting themselves.
Today he gave us an update.
Hey everyone. Here’s an update on my hand. pic.twitter.com/QhA1ojMpW3
— Michael McDonald (@MaydayMcDonald) August 21, 2018
My friends, I have news about my hand. Unfortunately the first attempt to fix my hand wasn’t as successful as we had hopes. We are going to move on with surgery after all. Not only did I shatter my bones in my hand but I also crushed it. I lost 1/4″ off my knuckle and pointer finger length which slightly misaligns and deforms my fist, which will be a huge danger for me to continue punching. We are going to try to fuse my hand bones together and all extend it back to the original length, along with adding a surgical steel plate for reinforcement.
It’s crazy to say…. But this could possibly still be only a portion of my recovery. The last bone fusion I had (on my right hand) was a 2 surgery process. One to add a steel plate and fuse the bone along with extracting bone marrow from another part of my body, and yet another surgery a month afterward to remove the steel plate and screws fro may hand since they were so close to the wrist.
My hand surgery is scheduled for August 30th in Las Vegas with the genius Dr. James Vahey. Praise God I have a wonderful wife who will take care of me during these crazy times. I couldn’t imagine if we had new born children and we had to deal with this craziness.
If you have a calendar and take practice in praying for people in need, please feel free to add it to you calendar on the 30th to pray for my health in surgery, my doctor’s steady hand, my wife’s care taking and my body’s acceptance of the surgery.
Thanks guys! I’ll keep you updates as time goes by. Shalom!
McDonald is likely poised for a title shot upon a possible return. But when that will be is anyone’s guess as he still has to heal up.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/21/2018