WARNING: Distressing images
UFC 303 suddenly came to life during a fiery bantamweight battle between Macy Chiasson and Mayra Bueno Silva.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Macy Chiasson wins UFC battle with Mayra Bueno Silva.
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While fights between Ian Garry and Michael Page, and Roman Dolidze and Anthony Smith, didn’t really deliver, the women stole the show with a controversial bloodbath on Sunday.
Chiasson won the second fight on the card by TKO, after the octagon-side physician stepped in.
Bueno Silva had been opened up above the eye by Chiasson’s elbow after a moment when the Brazilian was pinned on the floor.
Prior to that incident, Bueno Silva had been in sizzling form during the first round.
She was up 46-35 in total strikes and 40-26 in significant strikes but all that changed in the second round.
With the nasty cut so deep and close to the eye, the doctor had no choice but to call the fight off.
“There is blood everywhere,” UFC commentator Daniel Cormier said.
“I can’t even look at it. That is disgusting.”
But the decision infuriated Bueno Silva.
She quickly gave the call the thumbs down and then argued her case to UFC boss Dana White.
White was obviously powerless to do anything, and the result stood.
After the bantamweight bloodbath, the 32-year-old Chiasson said “I was hoping we would continue”.
However, that was never going with MMA Fighting blogger Jed Meshew comparing the cut to an “axe wound” in the head.
“That’s among the worst cuts we’ve ever seen in the UFC,” he said.
“You can basically see Mayra Bueno Silva skull. It’s a massive gash. There’s no way this can continue.”
The win potentially puts Chiasson (10-3) in the top three of the women’s bantamweight division, but it’s another disappointing blow for Bueno Silva (10-4-1, 1 NC).
In the main event, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira KO’d Jiri Prochazka with a brutal kick to the head in the second round.
Prochazka had been knocked down and was in trouble in the first round, but was lucky to be saved by the bell.
But only seconds after the fight resumed, he was down again and it was all over.
“His power is out of this world,” high-profile commentator Joe Rogan said about the Brazilian fighter, Pereira.