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Chance Rencountre suffers five broken ribs and punctured lung in Bellator fight

Bellator Welterweight Champion and No. 9-ranked Andrey Koreshkov (24-4), broke five of Rencountre’s ribs when he connected a spinning back kick.

Pawhuska-born Chance Rencountre has some recuperating to do.

On Feb. 19, Rencountre, Osage, fought in the nationally televised Bellator MMA co-main event fight on Showtime from inside the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Rencountre is 16-4 with seven first-round finishes.

“I’m excited to perform, to headline one of the largest promotions out there and hopefully put a number by my name,” Rencountre said before the fight. “At the end of the day, it’s a really big stand-out fight for this one.”

The fight didn’t go as planned. Just 38 seconds in, his opponent, Bellator Welterweight Champion and No. 9-ranked Andrey Koreshkov (24-4), broke five of Rencountre’s ribs when he connected a spinning back kick straight into his rib cage.

Rencountre collapsed and the referee quickly called the fight to a stop.

Later, Rencountre posted on social media, “Feeling pretty chipper for a man with 5 broken ribs, a punctured lung half full of blood and a bruised kidney.” He posted a photo of himself in the hospital along with the X-ray of his rib cage.

Chance Rencountre posted this photo of himself in a hospital bed after his injuries suffered from the Feb. 19 Bellator MMA fight. Courtesy Photo/Chance Rencountre

Rencountre has wrestled for most of his life. Growing up on the Osage Reservation, he wrestled all through his youth, then for Pawhuska High School, and into college at Labette Community College and Fort Hays State University in Kansas. Wrestling match after wrestling match led to his pro first title at the DCS Welterweight Championship and a title at the C3 Fights Welterweight Championship.

When he’s not working as an independent contractor, or as an MMA fighter, Rencountre is a proud father to his young daughter, Suri.

Rencountre also posted: “Not the way I’d envisioned my Bellator return playing out but congratulations to @koreshmmarus and a big thank you to all the @bellatormma staff for all their hard work both pre and post-fight. I’m feeling very well taken care of.”

With additional reporting by Natasha Lovato

Chance Rencountre posted this photo of an X-ray of his five broken ribs he suffered from the Feb. 19 Bellator MMA fight. Courtesy Photo/Chance Rencountre

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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