INJURY robbed former Mixed Martial Arts world lightweight champion Rob Sinclair of the biggest fight of his career, and at 35 he does not know if he will get a second chance.

But in many ways, the Burnley-born fighter has already celebrated his greatest triumph.

He was on the verge of following in the footsteps of mentor Michael Bisping and making a name for himself in America, just like Clitheroe’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ace.

Preparing for what would have been his Bellator debut against veteran UFC fighter Rich Clementi in 2013 — a potential £100,000 payday — a freak incident in the final minutes of a training session less than a month before the landmark bout left him with a dislocated kneecap.

Three surgeons told him he would never be able to take part in any physical activity again.

But where they saw the end of the road, determined Sinclair only had light at the end of his tunnel vision. His proved them all wrong.

Not only did he succeed by entering the fighting arena 20 months after fears he was finished, he won his first fight back on English soil.

“I was told I probably wouldn’t even walk properly again,” said Sinclair, who at the time of the injury was only just on the road back from a snapped Achilles tendon.

“With those two injuries I was told I had to give up physical sport, but I wouldn’t listen to them.

“With a little bit of luck, determination and good people around me I said ‘I’m going to do it again’.

“I’ve always been like that.

“If I’m on a treadmill and I’ve got to do ten sprints and I’m feeling tired at two, I’ll push myself and I’ll always finish it.”

Yet Sinclair admits that in that moment — when his leg buckled under the 11-stone-plus weight of his sparring partner — he feared the worst for his MAA career.

“It wasn’t so much the pain, it was more the fact that I thought ‘That’s it. It’s over’,” he said.

“All that work – eight years’ worth at the time — for preparing myself for the biggest fight I’d ever had. I was three weeks away.

“I’d signed a big contract, I’d just had a baby boy. Life couldn’t have got any better.

“I was so close to achieving my dream of beating America and doing what not many people have done in Britain, and then it was taken away from me in a moment.

“I just had to get back. I don’t want to be one of those people who sits on the settee at 45 saying what ‘I could have done’.

“I either try my best to do it and fail, but happily knowing I’ve tried, or I do it. That was my goal.

“My family took a back step, my work took a back step, everything took a back step, because I needed to get that monkey off my back.”

It was a long, laborious and at times depressing process.

On top of his physical trauma he was also dealing with personal tragedy following his grandma’s death, and the sudden death of his uncle a few weeks’ later.

There were other family pressures for him and his girlfriend, Georgia Hartley, who had to juggle looking after newborn son Xander with assisting in the rehabilitation.

A British Gas engineer since the age of 18, Sinclair was unable to work for six months and needed help doing the everyday tasks that are taken for granted.

There was also eight-year-old daughter Pascha to consider, his beloved pet dogs were rehomed to a farm in Portsmouth, while it became a struggle to pay the bills.

Life had been flipped on its head.

But compartmentalising the problems helped former Padiham footballer Sinclair to cope with them, and overcome them.

Now, after proposing to Georgia earlier this year, he is looking forward to making her his wife in August and some precious family time before he concentrates once more on the cage after making his long-awaited MMA return.

In April this year he fought in California and lost. Defeat — only the third of his professional career — did not bother him, he was just glad to be back.

“It was a tough fight. I lost to a close decision, but I didn’t do too bad for almost two years out,” said the former Towneley High School pupil, who two weeks ago today beat Michael ‘The Beast’ Brightmon at BAMMA in Birmingham.

He became world BAMMA lightweight champion in February 2010.

He has nothing to prove when it comes to wrestling opponents. In 18 fights, including 16 professional, he has won 12, the majority of them by knockout.

But it is a different matter when it comes to wrestling with his conscience.

“What goes through my head now is do I finish on top, because I won the fight pretty quickly, or will I have a demon in that I went to America and lost?,” he said.

“I always said I wouldn’t go past 36. I’m 35 now and I’ve had some serious injuries from this, so this isn’t a long-term thing for me.

“It’s probably in the next couple of years that I hang up my gloves.

“I know I’m not going to go on forever. I’m not one of those guys who keeps chasing glory. It ends at some point.”

But as he prepares for new beginnings, you sense it won’t be just yet.