5 Fighters in MMA Who Have Broken Their Nose | Explained

by Martial Arts Insider

MMA fighters have one of the toughest jobs in the world as they engage in hand to hand combat with another opponent, while using all different types of martial arts.

Naturally this can also lead to injuries. In this page, we will cover MMA fighters who have broken their nose in a fight.

Table of Contents

  1. Mike Perry
  2. Rich Franklin
  3. Junior Dos Santos
  4. Miesha Tate
  5. Justin Gaethje

1. Mike Perry

Perry would face off against Vicente Luque at a UFC Fight Night, and would suffer one of the most gruesome injuries in MMA history.

Although we've seen MMA fighters break their legs which is very devastating itself, seeing someone's nose in that dis-configured of a shape was something completely different.

In the final round of the fight, Luque would throw a knee that would hit Perry's face, but Perry would catch it and immediately keep his face planted against Luque.

Perry would then attempt a takedown, and Luque would go for a guillotine, only allowing the camera to see half of Perry's face (if any) for the last several minutes.

When the final round ended, Perry would get up with his face full of blood.

However, once someone wiped the blood off of Perry's face, the damage to his nose was evident.

Although I've seen shattered noses over 20+ years of watching MMA, I've never seen a nose completely smashed to one side, with the exact point of contact where the knee met the nose visible.

2. Rich Franklin

Franklin would carry a 22-1 MMA record going into a title defense against Anderson Silva.

That record would mean absolutely nothing once Silva would deliver a Muay Thai clinic, as he would consistently place Franklin in the clinch, and brutally assault his body and face with knees.

Silva would win this fight via knockout, in addition to breaking Rich Franklin's nose.

3. Junior Dos Santos

It's not clear exactly when, but it is clear that at some point in Dos Santos's career, his nose was broken.

In fact, it was so evident that JDS's disfigured nose could be seen during interviews out of the cage.

Shortly after, JDS would undergo successful nose surgery, and would inform fans about the procedure on Instagram.

4. Miesha Tate

Miesha Tate would face off against Ketlen Vieira at UFC Vegas 43, and would ultimately lose in a unanimous decision.

Tate would then receive a medical suspension for breaking her nose, specifically suffering bilateral nose fractures during her fight.

This wouldn't be Tate's first experience with a broken nose, as Tate would actually fix her nose before her fight against Amanda Nunes.

Dana White would explain that Tate's decision to undergo surgery would backfire, and explain in his own words:

She got her nose fixed, I told her ‘Don’t do it. I’ll fix your nose when you’re done. When you’re done, we’ll fix your nose.

She did it, and if you watch the Amanda Nunes fight, she gets hit by Amanda Nunes in the nose, and she didn’t like it. Her and I haven’t talked about this, but big mistake.

Tate would recently undergo nose surgery once again, and you are able to see in her Instagram post that it was successful.

5. Justin Gaethje

Justin Gaethje is one of the most violent humans on earth inside of the octagon.

As most fighters look to take as little damage as possible, while quickly finishing their opponents... Gaethje is constantly looking for chaos, and taking other fighters to deep waters, even if he takes damage on the way.

It's no surprise that Gaethje's unorthodox thinking has produced this quote:

I've Been Waiting 13 years for someone in mma to break my nose. And, it hasn't happened

Unlike the other fighters on this list, Gaethje has been waiting for someone to break his nose so that he is able to finally fix it.

Leading up to his fight against Tony Ferguson (which he would dominate), he would mention again that he hoped that Ferguson would crack his nose with an elbow.

The reason why is simple.

Gaethje explains that he hasn't been able to breathe properly for over a decade, due to receiving a nose injury during wrestling.

Gaethje recently finally underwent surgery to fix his nose, and would post on Instagram to update his fans.

justin gaethje fixes nose

This wouldn't be the only surgery that Gaethje would get, however.

Gaethje's vision used to be so bad that he had to physically touch his opponents in the cage to figure out where they were.

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