Cub Swanson was unfortunate enough to get caught in an awkward knee-reap when grappling against Jake Shields earlier this month at Quintet Ultra. They faced off in the semi-final match as Team WEC took on Team Strikeforce and as Shields reaped the knee for a sweep at the five minute mark, the damage was immediately visible. Swanson looked to be in agony as the ref called the fight at the 5:18 mark.

When Shields issued a public statement on the fight after the end of Quintet Ultra, he even took the time to answer a fan question with some friendly advice on what to do if you find yourself having your knee reaped:

When you watch the sweep back, it’s clear to see that Swanson didn’t follow Shields’ advice above and tried to fight the sweep instead. This was the exact moment that his knee went and the fight was stopped. Cub Swanson took to Twitter a few days later to confirm what everyone had feared, he’d suffered a severe knee injury. It turns out he had a full ACL and Meniscus tear and was due to see a specialist a few days later.

Well it looks like a full ACL & Meniscus tear. I see the specialist on Monday pic.twitter.com/FbTsT1kURH — Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) December 13, 2019

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Swanson as he finally righted the ship after four consecutive losses by beating the brakes off the surging Kron Gracie. He could be out anywhere up to 9 months or more and at the age of 36, Swanson doesn’t have a huge amount of time left to mount one final run to a title-shot.

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