Best Case Scenario: Corey Hill Looking To Return To Action In January(ish)

It was a brutal night here in North Carolina last year at the UFC: Fight For The Troops event in Fayetteville.  However, nothing was more eye opening than the injury that UFC lightweight Corey Hill suffered during the second round of his fight.  He threw a leg kick that was checked by his opponent, and basically the lower part of his entire leg shattered. Now after almost a year out of action, Hill has returned to training and spoke with MMAWeekly about the entire ordeal:

“It would have been very easy for the MMA world to never see me again,” he said. “A lot of my friends were like, ‘we can understand if you don’t go back.’ But that was a copout. I’ve been taught through life experience, if it’s easy, you usually don’t appreciate it as much as if you work your butt off. When you get there, it feels a lot better.”  “I’m a modest guy, but my friends say I’m a little overconfident,” he said. “For me, realizing the injury, and realizing that someone may grab that leg, it was easy for me to start throwing kicks with it. That way, I could remove doubt in my mind, and the guys I’m sparring with know that ‘he’s not afraid of the leg kick.’

“I don’t just throw it out there willy nilly anymore. I’m looking for a specific spot on your body and I’m really trying to connect, versus, when the injury happened, just reacting.”

Then unbelievably he said:

“I want to not just return, I want to return as a better fighter.”

You have to admire Hill for even attempting to come back from that type of injury.  Often times the mental part of overcoming an injury is tougher than the physical part.  Each time he throws a leg kick or gets kicked in the leg, you have to think he thought about his leg shattering again as he started back training.  Corey Hill gets major props, and I hope he comes back better than ever.