They don’t come much tougher than this.
Buck Cooper, from the tiny hamlet of Little Forrest in NSW, has one leg, one working arm and a heart the size of a lion.
That’s enough for him to be brave enough to step into the first amputee mixed martial arts fight to be held in Cairns early next month.
Cooper’s horror injuries from a dirt bike crash 11 years ago were so bad they left him begging police to shoot him to end the pain.
The moments after the crash still haunt him.
“I remember I froze for a bit then looked down and my leg was completely torn off,” Cooper said.
“I started screaming. I had my guts hanging out, pelvis was shattered, parts of me that were meant to be inside of me weren’t.
“My testicles were hanging out, luckily I still have them though.”
Cooper died numerous times in the ambulance but was revived by paramedics.
Eight weeks later he checked himself out of hospital and began his passion for MMA helped his recovery as he learned to walk again with a prosthetic leg.
“As a kid I did karate and trained a bit of MMA and all that sort of stuff. I found that helped me just get my strength and helped me get through the process,” he said.
Cooper said he was ready to go to war in the cage against his opponent, Glenn Dickson, on June 1 in Cairns.
“I have a lot of respect for Glenn, I am glad he reached out to me because I understand how hard it is to get a fight when you are disabled,” Cooper said.
Five seconds, one punch, fight over
If you are in need of proof that it does require courage to enter a boxing ring then it’s worth checking out this story to see just how quickly things can go badly wrong in a bout.
Toowoomba boxer Heman Ene-Purcell (aka the Herminator) returned to the ring recently after a three year lay-off from the sport and emphatically proved just why he belongs there.
Fighting against Thailand’s Tanapat Vibulsuk, only had to fire off one well-timed left hook to send his opponent sprawling to the canvas in a clear knockout.
It is hard to imagine how a bout could end any quicker and it left Ene-Purcell feeling a bit miffed.
“To be honest after being out of the game for three years I would have liked some more time in the ring,” he said.
The unbreakable man of local footy
Continuing this week’s theme of toughness it’s hard to go past the story of Adam Hunter, the local footy star from Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula who is now making his mark on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
His life story resembles that of Bruce Willis’ character David Dunn in the movie “Unbreakable” – a character with the superpower making him unkillable.
Hunter’s list of injuries, illnesses and heartache includes being impaled by a tree branch, overcoming type one diabetes, being torn apart by the tragic death of his 18-year-old brother and then beating bowel cancer which had spread to his liver.
Amazingly Hunter, 41 and a father of three girls, is still playing and coaching the sport he loves and has toured the world with the Australian Masters team.