Just in time for Halloween, it’s a splish-splash bloodbath compilation. Mixed Martial Arts has long been derided as a cruel bloodsport, so instead of trying to defend that accusation, I’m going to celebrate it! Here are some of the top instances of blood letting in the world of MMA. Please be aware that you will need a subscription to Fight Pass to watch these fights (But y’all have Fight Pass, right?).
Cain Velasquez vs Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva – UFC 146
Cain recently lost his heavyweight title to Junior dos Santos, and he is super pissed off. Sadly, the lumbering Bigfoot Silva is in his way, and Cain wants all of Silva’s face blood out in the open. One take down and a slew of elbows is all it takes to get blood from a living Moai statue.
Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve vs Denis Stojnic – UFC 99
Struve is one of the tallest fighters in UFC history, but he’s sometimes struggled to use his reach advantage effectively. This usually results in him taking a severe beating, only to come back later in the fight. This is a textbook case, as Stojnic manages to cut open Struve in the first, but STEFAN. STRUVE. WILL. NOT. QUIT! Struve chokes out Stojnic in the second. Fun fact – this fight was so bloody that it resulted in MMA getting banned in Germany for a brief period.
Jay “Thoroughbred” Hieron vs Jonathan “Road Warrior” Goulet – UFC Fight Night 2
This is the fight that Dana White called the bloodiest he’d ever seen, and he vowed it would never make broadcast (This was back when only the main card was guaranteed to be shown outside of the people in attendance). Goulet, a chinny kickboxer, opens up Hieron, a solid wrestler, with a knee in round two. Goulet then lands a ton of punches and elbows from the bottom, both opening the cut wider and preventing it from clotting. After dumping what looks like a solid gallon, Hieron gets hit with a knee in the third round and the fight gets stopped.
Chase Beebe vs Eddie Wineland – WEC 26
Chase Beebe lands a huge elbow in the third round that DESTROYS Wineland’s cauliflower ear (EARSPLOSION!). Blood and ear-guts go everywhere, and things just keep getting gross for the next two rounds.
BJ “The Prodigy” Penn vs Joe “Daddy” Stevenson – UFC 80
A common thread in these fights is that all it takes is one strike to slice open a forehead. Here, BJ lands a glancing elbow on Stevenson in the first and the crimson faucet starts pouring. Penn eventually gets a second round rear naked choke victory that provided several iconic images, including the banner image, this amazing celebratory GIF, and this “see if you can spot the terrifying thing” image.
Edwin DeWees vs Gideon Ray – The Ultimate Fighter 4
In the episode appropriately named “Blood Bath”, DeWees gets split open while on top of Ray in the second round and instantly turns into Jackson Pollock, spraying blood all over the canvas. In an interesting twist, DeWees uses the cut to his advantage, as he bleeds directly into Ray’s nose and mouth, distracting Gideon. Despite spending a lot of time on top with one hand clamped over the cut, DeWees won a decision.
Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs David Heath – UFC 74
In addition to the blood, which comes midway through the second round after some punches by Sobral, there’s another scary moment in the finish of the fight. Sobral locks on an anaconda choke, Heath taps, but Sobral doesn’t let go, even ignoring the referee until Heath is unconscious, in a pool of blood, on the canvas.
Jon Madsen vs Abe Wagner – TUF 10
On the first fight of the all-heavyweight season of The Ultimate Fighter, Jon Madsen, a stocky wrestler, took on Abe Wagner a larger BJJ player. Madsen dominated, hitting numerous take downs and cutting Wagner open early in the first round. It was so bad that one judge scored the two-round exhibition bout 20-16 for Madsen.
Joseph “Joe-B Wan Kenobi” Benavidez vs Miguel “Angel” Torres – WEC 47
Benavidez lands a tiny, razor-sharp elbow at the midpoint of the fight, slicing open Torres’ forehead. The ref doesn’t care about the horror show going on in front of him, though, and doesn’t even call the ref in to check on Miguel. It doesn’t really matter, since Benavidez quickly locks on a fight-ending guillotine choke soon after. Not long after this fight, a terrifying picture of Torres’ stitches and a video of Torres’ facial reconstruction surgery cropped up online, frightening all who saw them both.
Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk vs Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian – UFC 64
Kenny Florian’s fight career was notable for a few things: he had a super-annoying corner in his brother, Keith; going a Buffalo Bills-ian 0-3 in title fights; his vicious HELLBOWS, capable of cutting the flesh of anything that they struck. For twenty-five minutes, Florian’s HELLBOWS went up against Sherk’s chemically-enhanced face, and though Kenny lost the fight, Sherk’s face lost the war in containing blood.
Jessica Penne vs Lisa Ellis – Invicta FC 1
Some people have difficulty watching this fight because it is two female mixed martial artists. Those people are dumb jerks, because this fight is pretty fantastic, with Penne busting open Ellis in the third round and finishing the fight by ground and pound.
Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt vs Antonio “Big Foot” Silva – UFC Fight Night 33
Poor, poor Big Foot Silva. Dude just can’t have a fight without most of his face blood escaping his skin. This is probably one of the most incredible fights, especially for heavyweights, and damn, it is a hemophiliac’s nightmare.
