Lerryan Douglas’ second fight inside the UFC Octagon did not go to plan.
MMA’s leading promotion was in Sacramento on Saturday night for an event at the Golden 1 Center, where Gregory Rodrigues beat Anthony Hernandez in the main event.
There were a number of other strong performances on the card, including from featherweight veteran Jamall Emmers, who upset the odds to hand Douglas his first UFC defeat.
Not only did ‘Gunslinger’ leave the cage with a loss added to his record, he exited significantly worse for wear.
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Lerryan Douglas broke his orbital bone during the upset loss at UFC Sacramento
Douglas was a highly touted prospect at featherweight entering Saturday’s event, having won his UFC debut in style.
After earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, the Brazilian knocked out veteran Julian Erosa in one round to announce his arrival in the organization.
He was unable to replicate that performance against Emmers and was instead on the wrong end of a first-round stoppage.
His coach, UFC legend Cub Swanson, later provided some context for the result on social media, revealing that his fighter had been blinded early in the bout by a broken orbital bone.
“Lerryan Douglas had a fractured orbital and instantly lost vision in that eye,” Swanson wrote on X.
“He is ok and I’m glad he didn’t take more damage. We’ll know more after he sees a specialist this week. Thanks for all the support,” he added.
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Nevertheless, Douglas will now have to deal with calls of ‘fraud-checked’ by fans online until he recovers and is able to regain some of the hype behind his name.
‘Gunslinger’ is 14-6 in MMA after the shock defeat in Sacramento, while Emmers’ third win in a row moved him to 23-8.
Douglas will look to do so with the help of Swanson, who is helping the next generation of fighters after hanging up his gloves at UFC 327 this past April.
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