Former UFC fighter Boston Salmon suffered gruesome injury as a result of illegal knee in LFA

Boston Salmon | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Warning: Post contains graphic photo of eye injury.

Former UFC fighter Boston Salmon suffered several injuries as a result of an illegal knee strike in his most recent fight for the Legacy Fighting Alliance.

The incident occurred early in the second round when Salmon was facing off with Shawn West as part of the LFA card on July 10. After both fighters landed punches, Salmon stumbled backwards and after West regained his own balance, he rushed forward and landed a knee flush to the head.

Sadly, Salmon was still very much a grounded fighter, which made the strike illegal and he was knocked unconscious. As a result, West was disqualified and Salmon was awarded the win.

Devastating illegal knee results in a DQ. #LFA84 pic.twitter.com/3e31byKzUV

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) July 11, 2020

Now in the aftermath of that devastating foul that led to the end of the fight, Salmon’s manager Brian Butler-Au has released an update on the fighter along with the injuries he suffered as a result of the illegal strike.

“What we have to focus on here first and foremost is Boston‘s health,” Butler-Au wrote on Instagram along with a photo showing off the extent of Salmon’s injuries. “The knee landed with incredible force and caused Boston to suffer a broken orbital and cheek bone. Aside from the DQ we feel there should be disciplinary actions enforced by the commission to set a higher precedence on these types of fouls.

“There was no question about the legality of the knee and Boston was awarded the win at the end of the contest. It goes without saying that this is not the way Boston wanted the fight to be determined. As a team we are sitting down with Boston and his family to discuss what we want to do moving forward. Boston would like to thank LFA and their staff for getting him back on stage and giving him the opportunity to perform. For now Boston is going to undergo further examination and we will determine the next steps as we go.”

View this post on Instagram

UPDATE: The incident that took place in LFA on July 10th was extremely unfortunate. We believe Boston is a special talent and is able to compete with the best in the world. His stent in the UFC did not go as planned because it was determined by physicians that the weight cut to bantamweight was too extreme for him to be able to perform to his ability. We were extremely excited to restart Boston’s run at featherweight with @lfafighting and get him back to a big show. Boston was in control of this fight and just settling into his range and timing in the 2nd round when both he and his opponent, Shawn West, landed simultaneous hooks causing both to be flashed and knocked down. As Boston was getting back to his feet he was hit with an illegal knee that ended the night. What we have to focus on here first and foremost is Boston‘s health. The knee landed with incredible force and caused Boston to suffer a broken orbital and cheek bone. Aside from the DQ we feel there should be disciplinary actions enforced by the commision to set a higher precedence on these types of fouls. There was no question about the legality of the knee and Boston was awarded the win at the end of the contest. It goes without saying that this is not the way Boston wanted the fight to be determined. As a team we are sitting down with Boston and his family to discuss what we want to do moving forward. Boston would like to thank LFA and their staff for getting him back on stage and giving him the opportunity to perform. For now Boston is going to undergo further examination and we will determine the next steps as we go. #bossteam

A post shared by Brian Butler-Au (@suckerpunchent) on Jul 21, 2020 at 12:37pm PDT

Salmon initially joined the UFC roster in 2019 after appearing on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

Unfortunately, he came up short in both of his bouts in the UFC and was subsequently released from the promotion. Salmon’s first fight back since exiting the UFC was the matchup with West in the LFA.

Now it appears Salmon will have to take some time off to allow the broken orbital and broken cheek bone to heal before he can even think about his return to action.