In March 2015, Candian UFC figherJason Saggo ruptured his left achilles tendon while sparring in the practice ring. The whole unfortunate event was captured on film, including the pop gunshot-like sound. I discussed this event in a post with the video last year.

Luckily, almost 1 year after his injury and subsequent achilles tendon repair surgery, Jason Saggo will return to the UFC cage this week to fight American Justin (J-Bomb) Salas.

From the above linked article, I loved this quote from Mr. Saggo:

“It feels like somebody has a bat and they hit you from behind,” he said. “It sounds like a shotgun going off or like a balloon exploding … At the time I had no idea (what it was), just a surging pain at the back of my leg. You feel your calf muscle kind of rolling up. It was quite painful at the time.”

This type of description is so common among people who go through this terrible experience. Mr. Saggo also added the following, which I am not sure is necessarily true:

“It actually comes from years and years of training before — like box jumps and stuff and putting a lot of stress on the Achilles tendon.”

Good luck in the upcoming fight and in your future Jason Saggo!