But Le almost didn't make the match on Saturday because of a harsh foot injury.
Le, a part-time martial arts movie actor who on occasion hangs out with Jean-Claude Van Damme, likes to spend his spare time in the cage beating people up.
The match on July 7, 2012 against Patrick Cote at UFC 148 was a violent one. Le won by unanimous decision, but suffered the foot injury originally believed to be a broken toe, that almost kept him out of the Franklin match.
In an interview with Kenny Florian and Todd Harris from FUEL-TV's "UFC Tonight", Le told how he and boss UFC president Dana White thought his injury was going to keep him off the Macao card:
"Actually I was getting wheelchaired to the press conference after UFC 148 because I thought my foot was broken. Dana White said to me 'I was going to put you in the China fight, but this doesn't look good.' I said 'Oh man, when is it?' And he said, 'November 10.' I thought my foot was broken and I was sitting at the press conference thinking how could I get my foot better? Now here I am in Hong Kong getting ready to be in Macao for the biggest fight of my life."
Lucky for Le, he was able to rehabilitate his foot quickly and get clearance from physicians for the big match. Before the match Le said, "This is the biggest fight of my career. It'd mean so much to me. It would definitely take me to that next level of my career if I beat Rich Franklin. I'm totally feeling the extra pressure, but it's very exciting and I'm trying not to let it get the best of me."
Le took it easy before the big match, using some unconventional methods to heal his foot. "My foot is getting better as long as I don't kick someone upside the head right now without pads. All my sparring is done. It's just about maintaining it until the fight and staying away from injury and then going into the fight as healthy as I can. I only got cleared six or seven weeks ago by the doctor, even though it was a bone bruise, not broken, and he said it would take up to ten weeks to heal. So I did a lot of things to get it better and I got my foot up to 80%. But, that is why I just get back to my Chinese doctor and he does this blood leading thing and it's kind of disgusting. I put it on YouTube and people got grossed out (See the video. Not for the squeamish. )."
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