For a card that flew relatively under the radar, last weekend’s Fight Night 95 was anything but short on highlight-worthy moments. Between Roy Nelson kicking and flipping off referee Big John McCarthy after KO-ing Antonio Silva and Cris Cyborg’s absolute annihilation of Lina Lansberg in the evening’s main event, it certainly wasn’t a boring night of fights in Brasilia, Brazil, to say the least.
A little earlier in the night, however, MMA fans were treated to more than they could ever possibly want to see (and not in the Dennis Hallman in a speedo sense of the phrase) during the lightweight contest between Donald Cerrone training partner Paul Felder and Francisco Trinaldo. In a fight that was being absolutely dominated by the Brazilian through the midway point of the third round, Trinaldo landed a lightning fast elbow to the dome that opened a massive cut above The Irish Dragon’s right eye. The cut was so bad, in fact, that referee Osiris Maia and ringside physicians were forced to call a stop to bout with just over two minutes remaining, awarding the victory to Trinaldo via TKO.
While the cut certainly looked bad at the time of the stoppage, it wasn’t until Dana White tweeted out a high res photo of it backstage that we really got to see the extent of the damage. Suffice it to say, it’s not for the faint of heart.
In the words of Billy Madison, Gooo! That makes Marvin Eastman’s “goat vagina” look like a papercut. It makes Joe Lauzon’s boomerang gash from the first Jim Miller fight look like that scrape you picked up while helping your friend move last weekend yet continue to complain about, you big baby. It makes Abe Wagner’s cut from TUF 10 look…still pretty terrible.
All kidding aside, if this isn’t the nastiest cut ever suffered in the octagon, than it’s certainly fits within the top 3. Here’s an even closer look at it for those of you who have not yet lost your lunch onto the sidewalk outside your work.
I'm feeling like the @felderpaul stoppage was a good one!!! pic.twitter.com/FQbDdM6UaQ
— danawhite (@danawhite) September 25, 2016
In the span of five fights, Paul Felder has now been on the receiving end of not only one of the most gruesome groin shots in the history of sport, but one of the nastiest cuts as well. I don’t how much the UFC is paying him, but I can’t imagine it’s enough.
Felder, on the other hand, seems more concerned about how exciting his fight with Trinaldo may or may not have been than he is about his actual health. Taking to his Instagram page this morning, Felder posted a photo of his stitched-up face and promised to come back stronger than ever.