- Two Aussie amputees took part in a Muay Thai cage fight
- Both men have survived horrific, near-fatal incidents
- NSW fighter Buck Cooper was awarded the win that evening
Buck Cooper and Glenn Dickson have both lost limbs, but that won’t stop them from competing in one of the world’s toughest sports this weekend.
Both men, who each survived brutal incidents that claimed their legs, took part in a Muay Thai cage fight at the Fred Moule Exhibition Center in Cairns on Saturday evening.
Despite having the use of only one arm, Cooper achieved victory that night.
Dickson, from far North Queensland, died six times and was amputated after he was attacked by a shark while spearfishing in 2017.
Fighters with prosthetic legs compete in Australia’s first cage fight between amputees
Despite only having the use of one arm, Cooper was then awarded the win
“I jumped in the water, saw this fish and hit it with the spear, but it wasn’t what’s known as a kill shot, it was just a little further back,” Dickson said. News Corp.
‘So the fish was still flapping around and I thought I had to get to the surface quickly.
‘So I started swimming up and pulled the fish towards me with the rope on the spear.
“I grabbed the fish and grabbed my knife from my anklet and just as I hit the fish with the knife I felt like I had just been hit by a bus.”
Dickson’s battle with the fish had attracted a 12-foot bull shark, a bad-tempered breed considered more dangerous and aggressive than a great white shark.
With limited visibility and blood in the water, the predator simply attacked without prejudice, clinging to Dickson’s exposed leg.
Bleeding, Dickson tried to call for help, but all he could muster was a low whisper. His friends said it sounded like a seagull, not a man screaming for life-saving help.
They dragged him back onto the boat, but the worst was yet to come: Dickson went into cardiac arrest.
Dickson was amputated after being attacked by a shark while spearfishing in 2017
Buck ‘Buck Wild The Terminator’ Cooper (pictured) suffered a brutal dirt bike accident that left him begging police to shoot him to put him out of his pain
‘That was when I died for the first time. They told me I died a total of six times, four in the boat and twice in the helicopter,” he said.
The road to recovery has been a long one, but Dickson is ready to compete again in the sport he trained in before the brutal attack.
New South Wales fighter Buck ‘Buck Wild The Terminator’ Cooper has an equally inspiring story of survival after a dirt bike accident that left him begging to be put out of his misery.
“I remember freezing for a while and then looking down and my leg was completely torn off,” Cooper said.
‘I started screaming. My insides were hanging out, my pelvis was shattered, parts of me that were meant to be inside me weren’t.
“My testicles were hanging out, luckily I still have them.”