Warning: graphic photos and video contained in this story.
Amateur fighter Hunter Boone is resting and recovering after suffering a horrific gash across the top of his head due to an alleged cage malfunction at an event in Shawnee, Okla.
The injury occurred just seconds into the fight after Boone struck the cage door during a takedown, resulting in a wound that required 17 staples to close and the immediate stoppage of the bout. Boone’s opponent, Jordan Brown, was declared the winner.
MyMMANews was first to report the injury, which allegedly occurred in the video above, provided to MMA Fighting courtesy of Boone’s brother, Axton Boone.
“I’m doing OK,” Boone told MMA Fighting when reached for comment. “Taking my recovery day by day.”
Photo courtesy of Hunter Boone
After he received treatment at the hospital, Boone and his friends posted several images showing the damage done by the cage and the treatment he received the close the wound.
One of Boone’s coaches posted a photo alongside him at the hospital and described the scene as it happened during the fight.
Hunter and his opponent turned into the cage a few seconds after the bell rang. Coach Jason Greer posted the following on Facebook. “His opponent had a collar tie and as they hit the fence Hunter’s head slammed into the gate resulting in Hunter suffering a 20 centimeter gash across the front of his hairline from the left to the right, down the right side and towards the back basically scalping him.
“He was knocked unconscious instantly, but he regained consciousness shortly after he fell to the ground .”
Photo courtesy of Hunter Boone
The event was promoted by Martial Combat League. The organization released a statement on the incident and addressed the cage that caused the severe injury.
” We understand and thank everyone for their concern and are in solidarity with the person who was hurt during this incident,” Martial Combat League officials posted on Facebook. We were as shocked as everyone when it happened. We assembled our cage no differently than we have for each of our previous events. It is our understanding that the sanctioning commission of the event inspected the cage prior to the show. The sanctioning committee did not bring any issues to our attention.
“There was a very unfortunate event that occurred during a takedown near the door of our cage. How the injury occurred is still undetermined and there was no clear sign as to what or why this injury took place. Our cage was removed from the accident site and was thoroughly inspected by several members of the sanctioning committee. It was then deemed safe to carry on. We don’t have an answer as to why this injury occurred and we’re, without a doubt, extremely sorry to the individual who suffered this injury. Although we are unsure of how or why the concerns about not covering the injury were raised, it is clear that this was not true. Every event that we promote has to be covered. We do everything necessary to ensure qualified injuries are covered.
One of Boone’s training partners, Jesse Dalton, alleged that the injury was caused by “an exposed metal bracket on the cage.”
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