Status of Dan Simmler: In his own Words

This weeks episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 highlighted a nasty knockout during the Matt Riddle/Dan Simmler fight. While the first round of the fight went back and forth, the second round ended quickly and in scary fashion. After heading out of his corner to touch gloves, Riddle caught Simmler with a vicious right hook and dropped him where he was able to land three more punches before Herb Dean could stop the fight. While Simmler lay unconscious and moaning on the canvas, the camera panned across the TUF 7 fighters. Solemn faces saw something they may never see in the cage again, a Grade 3 concussion. Symptoms include loss of consciousness for any amount of time and amnesia of more than five minutes. When Simmler awoke, he had no idea he had just fought on The Ultimate Fighter in Las Vegas.

According to Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology, when faced with a Grade 3 concussion:

• Transport the athlete from the field to the nearest emergency department by ambulance if still unconscious or if worrisome signs are detected (with cervical spine immobilization, if indicated).
• A thorough neurologic evaluation should be performed emergently, including appropriate neuroimaging procedures when indicated.
• Hospital admission is indicated if any signs of pathology are detected, or if the mental status of the athlete remains abnormal.

Dan Simmler talks on the NHB forums and thanks to Cage Potato, you can quickly find it here. Nobody wants to see anyone get badly hurt in the cage and it looks like Simmler will fully recover. A lot of people want to see Simmler vs. Riddle 2 and considering both fighters live 60 miles from each other, it could happen. But, enough of that, here’s what the Serra Jiu-Jitsu fighter had to say:

So that wasnt as bad as I thought, I honestly didnt remember much. I found it kind of funny actually that I had no idea where I was.

I dont remember the flying whatever that was, I think triangle, and I dont remember anything else pretty much either.

The fiirst thing I remember was at the hostpital. So, I have a deviated septum in my nose, cant breath good at all with out a breath right strip, I had one on and right before my fight, I was told I couldnt wear it. I wasnt given a good reason, just that I couldnt, so as a result, I was breathing through my mouth the whole time, that just made things worse when I got hit. My mouth was wide open and I broke my jaw in three places. two on the left, one on the right. It was very painful to say the least.

One week after I got home to the day I decided I was going to train “Light” with a student, and I took his back and he pushed off and his head smashed me under the jaw with the back of his head, rebreaking the jaw. The hostpital is literally across the street from the school and I was kept over night and had surgery the next day. They put two small plates, 4 screws and wires back to keep it shut. For a little over 7 weeks I had nothing but shakes and tomato soup. It was horrible. I lost about 20 lbs and now I am waiting to get the ok to spar and get back to the grind. Ill be back and do better.

I am sorry that I couldnt have done better, I was happy to get it over with and see what I did and what mistakes I made and where I can improve. Thanks for the support.

Hopefully Dan is back up and training already. Good luck!