WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
MMA superstar Sean O’Malley’s latest title defence might be the main event, but a women’s bantamweight fight has stolen the show at UFC 306 in Las Vegas.
Fifth-ranked Irene Aldana took on Brazilian Norma Dumont in the stunning Sphere venue in Nevada in the final bout on the preliminary card.
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And it proved worthy of getting to the extraordinary venue or switching on a screen early, perhaps if you didn’t have a full stomach.
After a tight opening in the three-round contest, Aldana started bleeding profusely after a clash of heads opened a deep cut over her right eye in the second round.
“So a nasty gash, slot machine-esque, on the forehead of Irene Aldana,” Jon Anik said in commentary.
“It was a clash of heads, the cut man did what he could, but Aldana is leaking.”
It only got worse from there as Dumont continued to target her Mexican opponent’s face.
“(Aldana) wants to fight. At this point, you’ve got to,” UFC legend Daniel Cormier said.
“She can’t even see there’s so much blood leaking.”
Constantly wiping blood from her face, somehow 36-year-old Aldana just kept moving forward and while she lost the fight 30-27 from all three judges to slip to 15-8 in her career, she won plenty of admirers for her toughness.
Dumont improved to 12-2 and rose one spot to No. 8 in the rankings.
The fighters embraced after the fight and when Aldana’s corner had attempted to clean her face, the crowd got a clear look at the enormous cut on her forehead.
There were gasps from the crowd as the commentators tried to describe what they were seeing.
Even current strawweight title-holder Zhang Weili put her head in her hands when she saw Aldana on the giant screen inside the Sphere.
“Massive gash courtesy of that head clash,” Anik said.
“And that is, wow, that is a cut unlike many that I have seen. Perhaps some plastic surgery on the other end.
“Zhang Weili has been in a lot of wars herself and what a reaction from the UFC strawweight champion.”
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