With a nickname like “Lefthand2God,” it’s no surprise that Danny Barlow packs a serious punch but even he couldn’t have imagined that he would score his first knockout in the UFC using a broken arm.
This past Saturday night at UFC 298, Barlow battered Josh Quinlan with a barrage of punches and ended up with several knockdowns before the referee mercifully stopped the fight in the second round. Afterwards, Barlow noted that he likely broke his arm in the fight and an x-ray taken at a local hospital in Anaheim revealed that he had a clean break across his forearm.
What’s even more unbelievable is that Barlow delivered the majority of the finishing blows using his left hand — that same one connected to the shattered forearm that now sits in a cast as he awaits word on whether or not he’ll need to undergo surgery to repair the damage done.
“We knew it was broken,” Barlow told MMA Fighting. “It’s the forearm. I think it happened within the first minute of the first round, it was early on. I’m either going to have a ‘L’ with a broken arm or a ‘W’ with a broken arm. I’m trying to get that ‘W.’”
It was probably the worst case scenario come to life after Barlow suffered the injury so early in the fight and he wasn’t even really trying to use his left hand after realizing his arm was broken. Instead, Barlow tried to disguise his combinations to Quinlan wouldn’t pick up on the injury and try to use it against him.
“You’ve got to find some way to adjust to it,” Barlow said. “It was a mental adjustment for sure but if you’re still going to fight with it, the one thing you don’t want to do is let your opponent know. You don’t want to show any signs and one thing that people notice is when you start shaking the arm or stop throwing it.
“So I started to throw it more. A lot of times that I threw it, I didn’t even want to land it. I was just throwing it to keep it out there and set some stuff up in the later rounds. I didn’t want to just be standing there so he could kick it.”
When the first round ended, Barlow went to his corner but didn’t inform his coaches about the injury because he knew the surrounding cameras and microphones would undoubtedly pick up on it.
“I didn’t want the commentators to know because they hear what you’re talking about,” Barlow said. “I just dealt with it. I didn’t have time to address it so I had to make adjustments myself.”
Examining the fight, Barlow absolutely noticed that his accuracy was thrown off by the broken arm as he continued tossing out punches just to keep Quinlan off guard.
“It’s funny because while I’m punching him, I’m throwing this arm straight but it kept going [sideways],” Barlow said. “I was throwing it and if you see it right before I hit him with the hammer fist, I threw two straight [punches] and they went past his head. Every time I would throw it, I’d have to readjust it. I threw it twice and it went past his head and I’m seeing him. I was trying to line it up but it kept missing him. Then I hit him with the quick hammer fist because I couldn’t aim.
“It wasn’t going in the direction I was throwing it. I felt it for sure. The accuracy was gone. I was basically hitting him with a broke stick.”
Not only did Barlow continue fighting but the punch that led to the finish actually came from his left hand. In the moment, he didn’t think the shots from his left were even connecting with that much power because he obviously couldn’t feel the impact due to the broken arm.
Still, Barlow’s punches kept finding a home as he cracked Quinlan with several hard shots, knocking him to the ground multiple times until the fight was finally stopped.
“It did look hard but in the fight, it really didn’t feel like I was throwing hard,” Barlow said. “I was just trying to keep it active and not show that it was broke. I was reading a lot of comments and they were making the Mike Tyson comparisons and I was tripping. It was crazy that nobody noticed it.
“That’s why the fight became way more basic than it would have been. Because I broke it. That’s why I didn’t kick, there was a lot of stuff and I did the total opposite [of what we planned] because if we got on the ground and now I’m grappling with a broken arm. That’s why I wanted to keep it boxing.”
Despite the injury, Barlow pulled off the highlight reel finish and now his unique nickname will probably take on a whole new meaning considering he somehow generated enough power with a broken arm to put Quinlan away.
“The name is definitely blessed after that,” Barlow said with a laugh. “I wanted to come in there and make a statement. It’s definitely a statement after that fight.”
