How a Fighter Beat a Painful Injury to Make It to the UFC

The Hidden Injury

Imagine your foot keeps falling asleep every time you try to run, jump, or train. That’s what happened to fighter McMillen.

Before his fight with Alberto Montes in Oklahoma City, McMillen said:

“People don’t understand how bad of an injury I was dealing with.”

Here is what was going on:

• He had a two-year injury
• It was a pinched sciatic nerve in his back (that’s a big nerve that runs from your back down your leg)
• Any time he ran, jumped, or trained, his foot would go numb
• For the Mgoyan fight, he walked out with a numb foot and it was hard to warm up

Important Point: Even though his foot was numb and he couldn’t grapple at all during training, he still shut down a high-level grappler. He says people don’t respect that kid enough — that fighter would beat a lot of UFC guys.

Training Through the Pain

McMillen kept fighting on smaller “regional” shows to build his record and reach the UFC.

• He took fights at 160 or 170 pounds just to get wins
• He was barely training for many of those fights
• He used “modified fight camps” because he couldn’t do normal training
• Even hitting mitts (practice punches with a coach) caused problems:
  1. Do a 5-minute round
  2. His foot goes numb
  3. They stop and wake the foot up
  4. Get blood flowing again
  5. Repeat — and it was super frustrating

He said he never thought it would get better, but he kept working with good doctors.

• They figured out movements that work for his body
• The injury didn’t fully go away until about 5–6 weeks before his UFC debut
• And it has been gone since then

Making It to the UFC

After a tough fight with Mgoyan, McMillen earned a spot in the UFC featherweight division.

• He debuted in April
• His opponent was Manolo Zecchini from Italy
• Zecchini was unbeaten and came from the Contender Series

The Debut Fight

From the start, both fighters went after each other.

• For about 3.5 minutes, it was like “Rock’em Sock’em Robots” (think of two toy robots just bonking each other)
• McMillen landed the cleaner, harder punches
• As time went on, he took more control and hurt Zecchini
• He finally stopped him near the fence with a big flurry of strikes
• Zecchini was left bleeding, battered, and broken

Summary

McMillen fought through a painful two-year nerve injury that made his foot numb during training. He used modified camps, beat tough opponents without full grappling practice, and got healthy right before his UFC debut. In April, he beat unbeaten Manolo Zecchini in an exciting fight to start his UFC career.

FAQ

1. What is a pinched sciatic nerve?
It’s when a big nerve in your back gets squeezed, which can make your leg or foot feel numb or tingly.

2. Why couldn’t McMillen grapple in training?
Because his foot would go numb from the nerve injury, he couldn’t do normal training like running, jumping, or grappling.

3. Who did McMillen fight in his UFC debut?
He fought Manolo Zecchini, an unbeaten Italian fighter, and won.

4. Is the injury gone now?
Yes — it went away about five to six weeks before his debut and has stayed gone.