UFC Light Heavyweight Cody Donovan Headed to Surgery on Thursday to Repair Torn Ligament

UFC light heavyweight Cody Donovan has been sidelined with a thumb injury since his UFC 167 bout with Gian Villante, a fight he lost via TKO.

On Tuesday, Donovan revealed via Twitter that he has a torn ulnar collateral ligament that will require surgery. He’ll have surgery on Thursday, which will take six to eight weeks to recover from.

Thumb injury update: Torn ulnar collateral ligament. Surgery is Thursday. 6-8 week recover looks like I’ll be training with one hand.

— Cody Donovan (@donnybrookcody) January 7, 2014

While the injury stems from his fight with Villante, it didn’t happen in the usual fashion, which would be in the fight itself. It actually occurred just prior to Donovan stepping into the Octagon with Villante.

“About five minutes before the fight, crushed it on the focus mitt warming up,” Donovan told MMAWeekly.com.

That’s unfortunate, but Donovan never offered it up as an excuse. He was fighting well against Villante, but as he threw a head kick, Villante landed a right hand that put Donovan on the floor. Villante followed him down and finished with a flurry of punches.

“He’s very tough and he took a lot of good shots from me. It just didn’t go my way in the end,” Donovan said the night of the fight.

The injury put Donovan on the UFC 167 medical suspension list. He has to gain clearance for the injury, or he is suspended until May 17. If surgery and rehabilitation go well, he should be able to gain clearance prior to his maximum suspension.