MMA fighters with prosthetic legs compete in Australia’s first cage fight between amputees
When Buck Cooper and Glenn Dickson each lost a leg in near fatal accidents at the age of 25, they never imagined they would go on to make Australian sporting history.
But having survived the ultimate fight of their lives, it was obvious anything was possible.
After their accidents, the trained mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters were determined to make their debut in one of the most brutal sports in the world.
It was finding an opponent keen to fight an amputee that was proving to be the biggest challenge.
In March this year, Queensland shark attack survivor Glenn Dickson ramped up his search to finally to meet his match.
“I looked on Instagram and looked up ‘amputee fighter’ and Buck came up,” Dickson said.
“I looked at his weight class, and the way he moved and everything and then I messaged him and said, ‘Hey, do you want do you want to fight?'”
New South Wales road accident survivor Buck Cooper said he was unsure at the start, but figured Dickson had promotional fighter contacts.
“I really wanted a hard challenge. I saw some videos of him, and I thought, ‘This is gonna be good,'” he said.
“Once it was locked in, I was stoked. I had been looking for a fight.”
This weekend Buck and Glenn finally met when they faced off in the country’s first ever caged Muay Thai fight between amputees, at the Fred Moule Exhibition Centre in Cairns.
The pair of athletes are hopeful the exposure will allow others with limb differences to fight for their dreams.
Survivors make good fighters
Dickson was 25 years old and semi-professional in Muay Thai when he was attacked by a bull shark while spearfishing off Hinchinbrook Island.
“I remember my calf being ripped off … and seeing the shark and it whip-tailing away,” he said.
Dickson’s heart stopped six times on the way to the hospital, and when he woke up from a coma a week later his right leg had been amputated.
“The white light was over me and death was upon me,” he said.
“And it was a lot easier at the time to go to sleep.
“But I chose to carry on because of my daughter.”
Now 32, Dickson said surviving the attack had made him who he was today and shown him what he was capable of.
He said recovery was long and difficult but that training in fighting kept him going.
“The prosthetic hurt. It was an alien-like thing to put on,” he said.
“But I just couldn’t help myself, every physio session turned into a training session, and I just had to keep doing something.”
Ulladulla fighter Buck Cooper was 25 years old when he lost his left leg, the use of his left arm and suffered multiple other serious injuries in a head-on collision on a motorbike 11 years ago.
Cooper remained in intensive care in hospital for two months.
“I personally believe I was given the choice to live or not and my kids, I chose them for sure,” Cooper said.
When he was in hospital he wrote a list of things he hoped to achieve after the accident.
“I got it laminated, it says ‘compete in MMA.'”
Cooper said he hoped his disability representation within the sport would allow him to be a role model for others.
“I am excited for kids to see this, see the leg and feel inspired.”
Explosive Fight Promotions organiser Chris Bowtell said his company endeavoured to give all fighters as much exposure as possible to continue their career regardless of their circumstances.
“They deserved to fight again and we are proud to have made this happen,” Mr Bowtell said.
Despite having the use of just one arm and going up against a man with two, Cooper claimed the Explosive Cage Fight win in Cairns on June 1.
SOURCE: ABCNEWS
