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Swedish MMA fighter Tobias Wallberg seeks revenge after horrific neck injury: “I paid the price!”

Published

July 26, 2024

Tobias Wallberg MMA Superior Academy Frontkick.online (1)

Tobias Wallberg will be back in action in September. Photo via Instagram (@tobbe_wallberg)

Swedish MMA fighter Tobias Wallberg can’t wait to return to the cage. On September 14, at Superior Academy, Wallberg returns to face his rival Tobias Söderberg in a highly anticipated rematch.

A severe neck injury caused by a rear-naked-choke in his last fight, back in December 2022 against Söderberg, forced him to the sidelines for almost two years.

“December 2022. I was the better fighter on the feet. Tobbe [Söderberg] is searching for clinch and takedowns to get the fight to the ground,” Wallberg says in a new interview. “In the first round I fought well and got to my feet every time he tried to take me down.”

In the second round, Wallberg got caught in a rear-naked-choke that eventually forced him out of action for a long time.

“I paid the price. I’m missing a disc in my neck and my neck vertebrates have been pushing against each other which created a lot of cartilage. This cartilage entered the spinal cord, and Söderberg’s rear-naked-choke was the killing blow. A week after the fight, I woke up and couldn’t feel my hands. My feet didn’t work. I had an MRI which showed that the cartilage entered the spine. I had surgery and put a titan in my neck. In 2023 I was in rehab and now I’ve built up my body. I’m hungrier than ever.”