Ernie Paulson: Mixed Martial Artist

Photograph courtesy of Ernie Paulson

Ernie Paulson was 17 years old in 1994 when his doctors told him he had two options for dealing with a rare form of soft tissue cancer—clear cell sarcoma—that had showed up looking like a perfectly round wart on the top of his foot. They could cut the three ligaments to his toes and irradiate the foot, or they could amputate his foot and lower leg at the shin.