by Andrew Bonsall and RJ Clifford
On October 25, 2008 at UFC 90, Patrick “The Predator” Cote faced the honorable yet daunting task of facing UFC middleweight champion and pound for pound king Anderson Silva. At the time, no fighter in the UFC and no fighter since 2004 had made it past the second round without facing defeat. Cote was determined to be the first. He accomplished his goal, entering the third round holding up three fingers signaling his achievement. The MMA gods were watching however after a brief exchange just thirty-nine seconds into round 3. Cote landed awkwardly on his right knee re-aggravating an old injury and stopping the fight awarding Silva the TKO victory. The injury was a complete tear of his MCL (medial collateral ligament) and was so severe, Cote has yet to compete nearly a year later.
WHAT HAPPENED? An MCL injury is congruent with the injury sustained while “clipping” in a football game.
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The MCL is one of four ligaments that are critical to the stability of the knee joint. A ligament is made of tough fibrous material and functions to control excessive motion by limiting joint mobility, which prevents the knee from buckling. The four major stabilizing ligaments of the knee are the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments (ACL and PCL, respectively), and the medial and lateral collateral ligaments (MCL and LCL, respectively). Think of these ligaments as strong, flexible pieces of rubber that tightly hold your knee in place but allow for movement. The medial collateral ligament spans the distance from the end of the femur (thigh bone) to the top of the tibia (shin bone) and is on the inside of the knee joint. The medial collateral ligament resists widening of the inside of the joint, or prevents "opening-up" of the knee. Because the medial collateral ligament resists widening of the inside of the knee joint, the MCL is usually injured when the outside of the knee joint is struck for instance with a hard leg kick or, in Cote’s case, awkwardly landing on the inside of one’s foot. This action causes the outside of the knee to buckle, and the inside to widen. When the medial collateral ligament is stretched too far, it is susceptible to tearing and injury.