- A new photo shows how damaging leg kicks can be as the UFC posted footage of a swollen calf.
- The damage was sustained during a bantamweight fight Saturday at UFC 271 in Texas.
- Kyler Phillips went on to win the match thanks to a triangle armbar submission.
A close-up image taken during a preliminary fight at the UFC 271 event Saturday shows the nasty damage that leg kicks can have on a person's calf.
Kyler Phillips and Marcelo Rojo competed in a bantamweight bout at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Phillips began launching merciless leg kicks as early as the opening round, and as Rojo was doing little to block the blows, it was not long before grotesque swelling became obvious on the target area.
By the end of the fight, which lasted until the third round, Rojo had landed all 14 of the leg kicks he had thrown according to official UFC data.
Phillips landed 90 strikes from 176 thrown in total, tallied three successful takedowns from eight attempts, and closed the show in the third with a triangle armbar submission.
Though Phillips won the bout via finish, it was his leg kicking in particular that generated the most buzz.
Even the UFC's main Twitter account posted an image of the effect the strikes had on Rojo.
See it here:
—UFC (@ufc) February 13, 2022
But it wasn't just the leg kicks that won Phillips this fight.
Phillips, a relatively new and fast-rising athlete in the bantamweight division, had crisp combinations, asserted great control on the mat, and won the match with relative ease.
"In that third round I strung together some good submissions," said Phillips after the result was confirmed.
"I was happy, in that moment, I had some fun but there's things I have to work on — tightening things up, and keep training to get better."
With victory, Phillips advanced his pro MMA record to 10 wins (five knockouts, two submissions, and three decisions) against two losses.
He wants to return to the Octagon for his 13th fight "in a couple months."