In his Sportsnet.ca blog today, UFC middleweight Jason MacDonald details the surgical procedure he underwent to to repair the gruesome injury he sustained in his UFC 113 fight with John Salter this past Saturday night in Montreal. According to "The Athlete," surgery took three times longer than expected because the damage was worse than x-rays initially revealed, but he is optimistic he'll be back fighting by the fall.

"I had three bad breaks -- two on the joint of the fibula, the other was the tibia which was snapped clean off. The doctor explained to me the surgery took much longer than anticipated because he was having trouble keeping the ankle in the proper position because everything was so damaged. I ended up with 12 screws, four steel plates, which are permanent, and two bigger screws that are holding the ligament in place, which will hopefully be removed in three months.
Needless to say, I've been in the worst pain I've ever been in my entire life the past couple days. I'm trying as hard as I can to stay positive, let the healing process start and see where it goes from there. I'm pretty disappointed, but I know myself and I know I can recover from this and be back fighting, possibly even before the end of the summer, but more likely September-ish."

Some questions have been raised as to whether or not MacDonald will be invited back to the UFC after the loss, considering he was brought back by the promotion as a late replacement for fellow Canadian David Loiseau and is 0-3 in his last three fights, but the Red Deer, Alberta fighter says UFC matchmaker Joe Silva indicated that he will get another chance to earn a steady spot on the organization's roster again.

"I spoke with Joe Silva that night and he relayed to me it was a freak accident and when it heals I would be given the opportunity to do it again. That makes me feel good. Now I just have to recover. The UFC has called me everyday since to touch base and see how I'm doing. It just goes to show they really do care about the fighters."

MacDonald also addressed the somewhat inappropriate celebration by Salter and pointed out another case of ineptitude demonstrated by the commission in Quebec, Régie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux (RACJ).

"Thinking back, it was pretty distasteful for John Salter to get up and celebrate like he had just beaten me convincingly, especially considering I had just kicked him in the face and he only won because we came down awkwardly.
But I wasn't thinking about that at all at the time. I was pretty scared to be honest. There was a lot of confusion, the doctors came in to tend to me. Then Dan called my corner to come in to calm me down, but the commission wouldn't let them come into the cage."

Maybe they figured the break was due to an old retribution injury from MacDonald's days in the mob back in Nova Scotia where he grew up.