UFC star Dan Ige reveals he almost DIED in horror surfing accident after hitting head on reef in sea swell
UFC featherweight Dan Ige revealed he almost DIED in a horror surfing accident after hitting his head on a reef.
Ige was riding the waves in Hawaii when his collision caused him to go under water.
But as the current was so strong, the American was pulled down and desperately struggled to get back up.
The 29-year-old opened up on the near-death incident, which he admitted was more frightening than anything he could ever experience in the cage.
Ige told Fightful: “The scariest would be outside of MMA or training. It was a surfing accident. I was surfing in my hometown of Haleiwa, Hawaii.
“We were surfing and it was pretty big. When it’s big, the current gets insane and super strong out there.
“I remember a big set came in. I was taking off on this wave and I went over the falls and I just got held under for a super long time.”
“My head hit the reef. I was all discumbobled [sic]. I didn’t know where I was. I was trying to come back up.
“They have this section called the toilet bowl because the water kind of vortexes and pulls you down.
“There’s the reef and the current is really strong. I just remember almost not making it up. Barely making it up.
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“Another wave came and held me down again.
“It was scary. Super scary. Probably scarier than any fighting, any training experience that I’ve ever witnessed.”
Ige debuted in the UFC in 2017 on Dana White’s Contender Series, and has since had eight more bouts in the octagon.
He was knocked out by Calvin Kattar in their headliner in July on Fight Island, ending his six-fight winning streak.
Ige is currently rated as the UFC’s No12 ranked featherweight.