Ross Pearson says foot not broken after UFC on FUEL TV 9 victory

A backstage injury didn’t turn out to be as severe as Ross Pearson originally thought.

While warming up backstage for an eventual TKO victory over Ryan Couture in Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 9 co-headliner, the British lightweight believed he had broken his foot after a kick bounced off a pad and hit coach Eric Del Fierro’s elbow.

Pearson (15-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) fought anyway at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena and earned a second-round TKO victory over Couture (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC). After the fight, he confirmed the injury, which UFC President Dana White said he kept secret beforehand.

“He breaks his foot in the back, doesn’t tell anybody, goes out and fights and ends up knocking out Ryan Couture, which K.J. Noons hit him with some big shots in that last fight and didn’t knock him out,” White said after the fight. “So, much respect to him.”

Pearson, though, took to Twitter on Sunday to post a picture of his swollen foot and to confirm the good news.

“Docs said not broken! Crazy night,” he tweeted. “Still swollen but bruising coming out now! Going back for another CT scan this week.”

Pearson has now won back-to-back fights since his return to the lightweight division. “The Ultimate Fighter 9? winner and “TUF: The Smashes” head coach also is 3-1 in his past four fights.

For complete coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 9, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.