"Two metacarpals fused" - Rising UFC featherweight provides update on hand injury and possible return timeline
UFC featherweight Jack Shore provided an update on his hand injury.
Since September 2019, Shore has established himself as a fighter to watch in the UFC featherweight division after winning six of his seven UFC fights. Despite his success thus far, the 28-year-old was dealing with a lingering hand injury which he decided to get surgery on earlier this year.
As the calendar year comes to an end, fans have begun bombarding Shore’s private messages about when he plans to return. ‘Tank’ addressed those questions by sharing a video on Instagram of a detailed update:
“Yo yo, just a quick update on the hand injury. I’ve got a lot of messages asking when I’m gonna be fighting next and stuff like that. So, obviously I had the operation in August, we are in December now. I’d seen the doctor last week… Two metacarpals fused. The one is fully fused, the second one is partially fused, which means another eight weeks of rest, which will take us to around the middle of January.”
Shore continued:
“Doing little bits of training here and there. I’m not punching with it yet. I haven’t thrown a punch with my left hand since the operation. We will see what the doctor says in early January. Hopefully we will have an update on when I’m back training and when I’ll be able to fight again. I’m hoping for April time. April, May probably. We will play it by ear and see what the doctor says.”
What’s next for Jack Shore in the UFC featherweight division?
Jack Shore started his UFC tenure with five consecutive wins, including the first two inside the distance. In July 2022, the Welsh featherweight suffered a setback due to a second-round submission loss against Ricky Simon.
Luckily for him, he bounced back on March 18 with a second-round submission win against Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 286.
Shore is not ranked as a top-fifteen fighter in the UFC featherweight division. Therefore, it would make sense for him to get a chance to crack the rankings against someone in the 10-15 spot once he returns.