UFC fighter Andrey Pulyaev broke hand, continued to fight

Andrey Pulyaev broke his thumb in the first round of his UFC 324 fight but continued for all three rounds, his cornerman said.

Feb 28, 2026

Andrey Pulyaev posted an X-ray showing the hand fracture he suffered in the first round of his fight.
Source:
Andrey Pulyaev / Telegram

Russian mixed martial artist Andrey Pulyaev, who competes in the UFC middleweight division, broke his hand during a fight with Cameroon«s Ateba Gauthier at UFC 324. The athlete reported this in his Telegram channel on January 29.

«Something like that,» Andrey wrote, attaching a photo of an X-ray.

Earlier, his cornerman Andrey Koreshkov also spoke about the injury the fighter sustained. According to him, Pulyaev broke his thumb at the very beginning of the fight but did not withdraw and spent all three rounds in the octagon.

«He broke his thumb in the first round, essentially fighting with a fracture in the second and third five-minute rounds and landing some good shots,» Metaratings.ru quotes Koreshkov as saying.

Pulyaev«s opponent Ateba Gauthier himself praised the fighter from Chita (Siberia, Russia) for the resistance he put up.

«I was glad that this guy gave me a fight. He showed that he has the spirit of a warrior. He even admitted that he was afraid of me before the fight. But we all get scared, and success is determined by whether you can force yourself to move forward,» Gauthier said at the press conference.

The fight took place on the night of January 25 in Las Vegas, lasted all three rounds, and ended with Ateba Gauthier winning by unanimous decision. This was Andrey Pulyaev«s 14th professional MMA fight, and the loss became the fourth in his career with ten wins.

Andrey Pulyaev began his martial arts journey in a kudo school in Chita (a city in Siberia, Russia), joined Alexander Shlemenko«s »Storm« team in 2016, and made his professional MMA debut in 2022. In just two years, he built a strong career: from fights in Shlemenko»s promotion and participation in the selection tournament «Put v RCC» (Path to RCC) to a contract with the world«s best league, the UFC. He spent most of his career in the Shlemenko FC promotion.

In August, he defeated American Liam Anderson by unanimous decision, which earned him a contract with the UFC. The Russian«s five-fight win streak was interrupted in his last fight against Christian Leroy Duncan. After that, he defeated American Nick Klein in the second round of a UFC fight by technical knockout.

Andrey Pulyaev«s interview for Chita.Ru can be read here.