Welterweight Max Griffin was turning up the offensive heat in the third round of his UFC Vegas 13 fight when an elbow appeared to nearly tear off Ramiz Brahimaj’s ear.
Referee Mark Smith stopped the bout at the 2:03 mark of the final frame when he got a good look at the gruesome injury.
The UFC typically posts a video replay of the full finish. But in this case, the promotion cut to Griffin’s celebration.
Here is a screen shot of Brahimaj’s injury.
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Here’s a video from the moment of injury.
The finish put Griffin back in the win column after a pair of setbacks and a 1-4 run in his previous five outings. He showed an aggressive attack early in the fight, bloodying his opponent’s face and badly damaging his left eye, and appeared to have a lead on the scorecards headed into the final frame. An errant groin kick badly hurt Brahimaj in the second round, and he was able to continue.
But the severity of the injury quickly ruled out the fight for the LFA vet, who made his way to the UFC after a 2-2 run in the feeder league.
