Fabricio Werdum suffered a gruesome flesh wound in his bare-knuckle fight against Junior Dos Santos on Friday night.
The former UFC heavyweight champions were competing at the bare-knuckle MMA event Gamebread Bareknuckle 5 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
By the second round, Dos Santos had bloodied Werdum’s left eye, and eventually Werdum’s blood became smeared all over Dos Santos’ knuckles and torso.
By the middle of the third round, both of Werdum’s eyes were bloody.
“The left eye is closed completely, the right eye is ripped up. Junior is performing retinal surgery here. Knuckle surgery,” play-by-play broadcaster Sean Wheelock exclaimed.
And then it got even worse — Werdum’s eyelid appeared to be ripped off.
“Oh Jesus, the eyelid is falling off! The eyelid is literally torn open,” Wheelock continued.
“If it wasn’t for the blood he could see right through that eyelid!”
Dos Santos wound up winning the fight via a split decision.
“That was my first time [fighting bare-knuckle MMA] and I loved it, that was amazing,” Dos Santos said after the match, according to MMA Fighting.
“I feel good. Feeling a little sore but I think that’s OK. I’m fighting someone who was really well-prepared. Everybody knows the legend that he is.”
Dos Santos, 39, competed in UFC from 2008-21, defeating Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship in 2011, via knockout just over a minute into the first round.
Warning: Graphic Images
Werdum, 46, is also a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, defeating Mark Hunt for the interim title in 2014 while Velasquez was out with an injury, and later beating Velasquez to unify the belt.
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