Wyoming Area baseball tops Valley West in 10 to stay unbeaten

Penn State faces Ohio State in primetime this fall

Thirteen months of training between fights gave Swoyersville native Jimy Hettes just five minutes in the octagon. No matter how well he fought, the resilient featherweight wasn&#8217;t afforded a chance to fight to the end.A doctors&#8217; stoppage gave Hettes a first round technical knockout defeat Saturday to Brazilian Diego Brandao during Ultimate Fighting Championship on Fox 15 in Newark, New Jersey.Somewhere in the fourth minute of fighting, Brandao caught Hettes&#8217; ear with his elbow, slicing it open and sending blood raining down the side of his face, shoulder and left arm. Fight doctors recommended the TKO upon checking his ear at the end of the first round, giving Hettes his second-straight mixed-martial arts loss.&#8220;I&#8217;m still not happy about it,&#8221; Hettes said. &#8220;It happened all of a sudden. Looking back at it now, I could kind of see what the doctor was looking at. Still, it&#8217;s a tough pill to swallow.&#8221;Hettes said he had only seen this happen once before. In November, Leslie Smith shared a similar fate when her ear exploded and officials called off the fight after her chin was smeared with blood.The 27-year old featherweight fighter admitted he did not even feel any pain when his ear was sliced.&#8220;It&#8217;s a calcified cauliflower ear,&#8221; Hettes said. &#8220;When it was hit, I didn&#8217;t even feel it. I didn&#8217;t even realize that it was in as bad of a shape when the doctor made the decision. I was livid because, to me, I felt no pain. I felt I could continue on.&#8221;For now, Hettes&#8217; next fight remains unclear. He&#8217;ll have to wait on UFC to book his next bout, which should take a couple of weeks after his ear has fully recovered. Hettes&#8217; next trip to the ring must revolve around his wedding in August, and he is going to space his next fight around the ceremony planning.&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to get to the wedding with a black eye or broken bones,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;It&#8217;s weird planning a wedding around an UFC fighter&#8217;s schedule. I&#8217;d like to be able to eat and drink at my own wedding.&#8221;The exploding ear was the second piece of unfortunate circumstances to face Hettes this year. The first scheduled Brandao-Hettes match was canceled minutes before the January fight. Hettes passed out backstage, and fight officials again refused to allow him in the octagon.&#8220;It&#8217;s disappointing. All of the work that I put into it was lost,&#8221; Hettes said. &#8220;Everything was coming together for me. I was looking forward to showing everything that I had been training on for the past year.&#8221;All things considered, Hettes said he was happy with how he fought Saturday. Most MMA commentators and message boards listed it as an evenly fought match through one round.&#8220;I am happy with everything that was in my control,&#8221; Hettes said. &#8220;It was an unlucky strike. His elbow hit me at the right spot at the right time.&#8221;

Jimy Hettes still upset over UFC fight stoppage