As Muhammad Mokaev's leg was wrenched into a shape no leg should ever be wrenched to, it looked like his dream of becoming the UFC's youngest-ever champion would go up in smoke.
Back in March, Jafel Filho had the British 23-year-old in an excruciating kneebar, but Mokaev simply refused to tap out.
He somehow conjured a Houdini-esque escape to execute a submission of his own and remain unbeaten, dream intact.
This Saturday he returns to action against Tim Elliott at UFC 294 and spoke exclusively to Mail Sport about those heroics in London and looked ahead to the weekend's match-up.
When asked about his decision to risk real, lasting damage to his knee by gritting his teeth through the pain, he said the toughness forged outside the cage helped him stick it out, even if it did seem like an eternity.
'I've gone through a lot of toughness in my life and it's something where you can handle the pain,' he said.
'Of course, you sometimes have to handle pain in your life. It was for 52 seconds but it felt like 20 minutes! Sometimes you have to handle the pain to get some results - nothing in life is easy and sometimes you have to sacrifice something.
'In four fights, it's the only trouble I've been in. People get knocked out, this was just a kneebar, you can recover it's not like brain damage.'
Even after the win, there was concern Mokaev had torn his knee ligaments apart. Fortunately, the scans only showed a grade two partial MCL tear, ruling him out for just a couple of months.
'I went to Wigan Athletic to start doing rehab and start doing boxing slowly without moving my feet much and I'm back, called the UFC and said I'm ready to fight in August,' he recalled.
'They said: 'Are you sure?' I said "Yes". They told me they'd look for an opponent - nobody accepted from the top 15, they said the only place they could give me was Abu Dhabi, so I said "Let's go".'
So the race against time is still on. Mokaev has until March next year to beat Jon Jones' record but must find a way past Elliott this weekend to stand any chance.
Earlier this week, he bumped into his opponent outside the lift in their fighter hotel but was keen to ensure there was no animosity, with both men able to laugh off the awkwardness of it.
Back in March, Jafel Filho had the British 23-year-old in an excruciating kneebar, but Mokaev simply refused to tap out.
He somehow conjured a Houdini-esque escape to execute a submission of his own and remain unbeaten, dream intact.
This Saturday he returns to action against Tim Elliott at UFC 294 and spoke exclusively to Mail Sport about those heroics in London and looked ahead to the weekend's match-up.
When asked about his decision to risk real, lasting damage to his knee by gritting his teeth through the pain, he said the toughness forged outside the cage helped him stick it out, even if it did seem like an eternity.
'I've gone through a lot of toughness in my life and it's something where you can handle the pain,' he said.
'Of course, you sometimes have to handle pain in your life. It was for 52 seconds but it felt like 20 minutes! Sometimes you have to handle the pain to get some results - nothing in life is easy and sometimes you have to sacrifice something.
'In four fights, it's the only trouble I've been in. People get knocked out, this was just a kneebar, you can recover it's not like brain damage.'
Even after the win, there was concern Mokaev had torn his knee ligaments apart. Fortunately, the scans only showed a grade two partial MCL tear, ruling him out for just a couple of months.
'I went to Wigan Athletic to start doing rehab and start doing boxing slowly without moving my feet much and I'm back, called the UFC and said I'm ready to fight in August,' he recalled.
'They said: 'Are you sure?' I said "Yes". They told me they'd look for an opponent - nobody accepted from the top 15, they said the only place they could give me was Abu Dhabi, so I said "Let's go".'
So the race against time is still on. Mokaev has until March next year to beat Jon Jones' record but must find a way past Elliott this weekend to stand any chance.
Earlier this week, he bumped into his opponent outside the lift in their fighter hotel but was keen to ensure there was no animosity, with both men able to laugh off the awkwardness of it.
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